I have not read any of the posts on this thread but when I saw this thread posted I thought 'what a good thread.' And I still think that. I would say that unless one is kind of debating in one's mind minutia...say...you are at Home Depot (run!) and are torn between two different Moen toilet roll holders...um...problems are problems...which is to say that your problems, my problems, everyone's problems while they may be "first world" (tanks are not on the streets of Los Angeles but the L.A.P.D. is not exactly beloved) are to varying degrees sources of stress, anxiety, etc. to the individual such that...I wonder from sociological, psychological, and biological vantage points if what we experience in our seemingly trivial problems ...triggers the same kind of response within a group, within the mind, within the body as those developing world problems...just on a lesser scale. If so, our problems cannot be so easily dismissed (I'm not suggesting anyone is doing that) because they are our own, they are what we have to deal with, they occupy us rightly or wrongly (like how I wrestle with which posters to frame and which to put up with thumb tacks while some people in the greater Indian Sub-Continent where I am from are being bombed by drones), they are often joy killers, and none of us are running around in Strawberry Fields. Rant over.
well, while I merely live in
the aspiring first world now, but I was lucky to have an epiphany deep in the freezing cold
(to me)of a Caucasus Mountain winter a few years ago
the situation was brought about by the bitterness of the weather, my isolation and loss of electricity that went on for weeks
at first, it drove me crazy, furious at times, but eventually something extraordinary happened, my mind and body calmed down enough at some point that I just surrendered to well, everything my situation, the fact that I was powerless to change much of it and that waiting around for the power to come back on was just absurd
*
and for just a moment, the weight of the world was lifted from me, this
hippy-dippy feeling of spiritual "lightness" is something I have experienced about half a dozen times in the last half decade or so and its one of the things that makes life worth living
how is this relevant to this thread or BG's post?, I am not sure, but it struck a chord within me & I guess it comes down to me seeing this thread as having a "tongue and cheek" quality that implies that "first world" problems are somehow less than those in more poverty stricken / primitive / whatever you want to call it
and on the other hand my knowing on a level within me, thats hard to put into words, that life in "harder places to live"
(by modern American standards) does have something that appears to be lacking in places where people like me are
from
and that is they
(not me) are far less likely to "sweat the small stuff" and just get on with life
also, all that shit that is stacked against them but that they cannot do much or anything about, well, why worry about it?
its something I try to remember when I am over thinking my job or life or worrying about the stupidest shit
living in a complicated world does not mean that we have to be thinking about all that crap all the time
and worse still, being all angst ridden or erudite or "worldly" or or a deep thinker, etc, etc, etc
well, it does not
= a meaningful inner spiritual life for anybody such is true of
and I have not found my "1st world baggage" to help me cultivate my personal character or connect with people that already have some of what I seek
so yeah, I guess, if you enjoy your first world problems, then great, then own them, or they will own you
as for me, I am going to continue to have it all, at least from time to time
the company of beautiful women, technology, which includes a directory on my desktop called OPEN ME** inside are reminders to:
to not worry so much, stress myself/others, have hope rather than despair and always, at least, try to defeat my own depression whenever it returns for another
visit
to those ends, a lot of "associates" of mine are going to some big party at a mansion outside the city tonight, and while I have work tomorrow morning, I could not get f-ed up and check it out, not getting a a good night's sleep is something I can endure and still do a good day of work
its the combining it with chemicals that just does a number on me and besides, I have really enjoyed the last couple of times I went places not under the influence
*=sometimes, especially back in the rat race of Cali, it does feel like the world is just a boot stamping on our face all the time, don't it?, but its not
*=the directory contains, some text files, pics, videos and gifs like