First World Problems

There are many things that make me think about my time in Ethiopia. It may be seeing an Ethiopian woman who works at the airport in Denver or running into a former student who is from Ethiopia at church or it may be the smell of bread baking. Often it is when I see someone who is homeless and hungry. I saw a lot of people like that while we lives there for our two months.

Lots of difficulty. Lots of tragedy.

We saw lots of people sleeping on the ground.

Having seen all of that you would think I would not complain when it comes to the little things that frustrate me in life. Recently a phrase that has gained a fair amount of popularity, especially on twitter, is "first world problems." Essentially it is when someone complains about something seemingly trivial that someone in a 3rd world or developing nation would never even consider an issue.

It becomes comical at how easily we can complain about the dumbest things.

I spoke at a youth group north of Seattle recently and one of the things they did in the beginning of the meeting was give students an opportunity to gripe about their "first world problems." It made me laugh as we all shared our ridiculous complaints when you put it in the light of "real" problems others have around the world.

Wiktionary defines it as "a frustration or complaint only experienced by privileged individuals in wealthy countries."

Jamie Kennedy, in his movie Malibu's Most Wanted, plays a guy who grew up in Malibu and acted as if he grew up in Compton on the streets. At the local coffee shop he complained about the difficulties of growing up in the Bu. Like how sometimes his latte is lukewarm. #firstworldproblems

I went to the store to look at the new Call of Duty for the Wii. It said Wii U on the package. I asked the guy about it and he told me they do not make it for the Wii. I said, "You mean I am now forced to buy the Wii U if I want the new Call of Duty Black Ops 2?" He replied, "Well sir, it is a 6 year old platform." DON'T CALL ME SIR! And that's stupid. #firstworldproblems

I do not like coffee (except for when it was made over a fire in Ethiopia daily at the coffee ceremonies) but I love going to Starbucks. I typically drink the Refreshe Tea. It's a decent drink, but I go there more for conversations with people. What I love, besides the cake pops, is their salted caramel hot chocolate with soy (lactard here).  What makes this drink is the sea salt they put on top! It is an amazing mix of sweet and salty. When the season starts to wind down they begin to run out of the salt. They always tell me they can make it without the salt, but I tell them it's not worth it and then leave. #firstworldproblems

Starbucks round 2. I LOVE the Green Machine Naked juice. They now sell Evolution green something or other and it is DISGUSTING!!! Seriously, it has over 5 sticks of celery in it. I would rather get celery sticks and my own made peanut butter and enjoy that. Hey Starbucks, get rid of those awful Evolution drinks (yes, even your employees hate them) and bring back the Naked Juice. #firstworldproblems

They are now doing "winter finales" on TV and I have to wait till January for a new episode of Parenthood. #firstworldproblems

I have seen several of these online, or ones like it.

I went and visited my parents and they didn't know their wifi password. #firstworldproblems

The person I wanted for president didn't get elected. I am moving to Canada. They may change my ability to get the doctor I wanted. #firstworldproblems

There is nothing to drink at home except a virtually unlimited supply of fresh drinking water. #firstworldproblems

It's crazy how much we complain about the most ridiculous things.

What is a first world problem you deal with?