When I went back to the US during Christmas (on a break from the project I’m working on overseas) I was greeted with a score of problems. My mail was piled high and deep on my desk. My computer needed multiple upgrades, as did the iPad I left. Music I bought needed to be transferred to the music library drive I kept in the states. Neglected backups needed to be done. Photo libraries needed to be synced. And so on.
I rolled up my sleeves to get started, and as I was working I realized the ludicrousness of the “problems” I had to solve. Oh no! I thought to myself, all of my files weren’t synced across my many computing devices! How could I work under such conditions?!
That I had closely followed the many stories of disaster and strife that had happened over the past year gave me much-needed context and perspective. What I was dealing with was the very definition of “first world problems”… problems that were in no way comparable to those that happened around the world. These problems were ongoing and, even as I type this now, these second- and third-world problems are causing misery and suffering to hundreds of thousands of people. Compared to the lives those people live, our “baseline” is extremely high. In fact, a great website has been created that catalog some of out first world problems, and you can visit it here.
I, and many of us, are extremely lucky to have the lives we enjoy. We have advantages, like running water and plumbing, that a significant percentage of the world don’t. I’ve often read conservative pundits talking about how the poor should not be called the “less fortunate” because with a strong work ethic anyone can succeed. To that I reply… umm, Horatio Alger is dead. And, yes, while the poorest of us in America have better lives than the poorest in scores of other countries do, it’s not all “choice” or a lack of a work ethic. Luck, location, timing, education, parents… all are factors that play a part. To think otherwise is to be dogmatic and wrong.
As I look at my job, and where I am at in my career, I have very little to complain about. I am well-regarding in my domain, am making a very good wage, and get to do what I love – design solutions that help people accomplish tasks and solve problems. Since solving problems is what I do, it definitely helps to have perspective about the severity of these problems. In most instances, they are problems we have created for ourselves, problems that our technological tools have made for us. Problems that should most often be answered simply with the pragmatic response: don’t worry about it.