Our standard response to minor inconveniences, annoyances, disappointments. Unsaid but implied are problems that really are problems. But I’ll start with those I refer to as “first world.”
The lower front panel, the frunk and the left panel above the wheel will have to be replaced. Two weeks to process a claim, then two weeks in the repair shop. First world problem.
Sixty years of accident-free driving out the window after a moment’s inattention. A pickup truck driving up Arlington stopped unexpectedly for a pedestrian. I didn’t. I was going, perhaps 5 miles an hour. No airbags deployed. Car can be driven. Filed a claim, first ever. Estimate is 7-10k. $500 deductible. Two weeks without a car.
A first world problem.
The accident occurred on Thursday. Earlier that day Jadyne and I had prepared 100 meals for the unhoused, then visited three homeless encampments.
Another first world problem. At Thanksgiving Jadyne and I both came down with Covid. We spent two weeks recuperating. Millions of people have died; many suffered. We had bad colds. I had cataract surgery scheduled for December 7th. Postponed because of Covid. First World Problems.
Went into San Francisco today. My mask dislodged one of my hearing aids, and it’s gone. Just another first world problem.
The Castro Street Encampment
A resident painted the concrete barriers on one side of the encampment. A Christmas tree, then “Follow your Heart”, then “Never Lose Hope.” Optimism and a celebration of Christmas among the unhoused. We both live in the first world, but our problems pale in comparison.
Here in the US the problems of the unhoused transcend the meaning of “first world problems.” as does the blizzard and sub-zero conditions throughout the Midwest and East today. Countless accidents and seventeen deaths. More to come.
The thousands of migrants trying to escape Nicaragua and other South American countries, families who have spent weeks traveling through Mexico, hoping to find asylum in the United States, have arrived at the southern border at El Paso only to find frigid temperatures and no available shelters. This is not a first world problem.
And ten months after Putin invaded Ukraine this is what’s been left.
Not a first world problem.
We are inclined to compare our misfortunes to those of people around us. We’re all on a line somewhere. Some to the right, some to the left. We pause. We have our health, our families, heated homes, love and support from all. First world problems shouldn’t even be addressed as “problems.” We are fortunate in so many ways, and the real problem—and this would be more than a first world problem—would be if we failed to recognize, appreciate, and give thanks for our blessings, even our “problems.”