Discover Smith Mountain Lake
WINTER 2015/16
7
6
A dear friend of mine is fond of pointing out what she
describes as “First-world problems”.
It’s her way of keeping things in their proper perspective.
It’s easy to lose sight of the blessings in life if we focus on
the things that we don’t like.
I’m reminded of the cliché of the old men sitting around
a stove in winter, telling tales of the rigors of their
respective childhoods, each trying to top the other.
“Your turn to bring in firewood, Bill. I already went out in
the cold twice today.”
“No big deal,” says Bill. “Why when I was a lad, we had to
walk uphill to the woodshed to fetch firewood.”
Bob snorts. “We walked downhill to the woodshed. We
had to walk back up the hill with a heavy load of wood in
our arms.”
“At least you had a woodshed,” Charlie retorts. “I had to
take a hatchet and cut my own.”
… and so on.
We crave misery. We lament our misfortunes, in spite of
our blessings. It’s one of the sad aspects of human nature.
Perhaps it’s because we crave the sympathy of others.
Usually it results in special treatment.
Nobody takes pity on one who enjoys abundant blessings.
Indeed, why would one feel sorry for someone who has no
problems? It is far easier to show kindness to a wounded
sparrow than it is to feed the obese feline, who may well
have wounded the sparrow in the first place.
Still, it goes deeper than that. Counterintuitive though
it may sound, we need problems. Life is but a series of
challenges. If winning is all that matters, why do we
complain when an opponent lets us win? It’s not the kill;
it’s the thrill of the chase.
Think back to an English class in high school. (Do they
still have those? I often wonder.) What are the five
elements of a story? Theme, Setting, Characters, Plot…
and oh, yes… Conflict.
Remove any one of those five elements, and you don’t
have a story. What is life but a story, or a series of stories,
which become memories? In order for the old men
sitting around that stove to tell stories, there had to be
conflict. The theme was collecting firewood as a child, the
characters were the story tellers themselves, the plot was
the events that resulted in firewood being brought in,
the setting was their childhood homes, and the conflict
was the hardships they faced. If fetching firewood were a
light task that caused no discomfort, there would be no
point to their stories. Furthermore, the act of telling their
stories becomes a story unto itself, as these characters
compete with one another for the honor of having
endured the greatest difficulty.
Upon whom do we bestow the highest honors? Usually,
we recognize those who achieve the most. There are
not many awards for fogging up a mirror, napping, or
daydreaming, since these require precious little, if any,
effort. We feel best about ourselves when we rise to a
challenge and overcome it. Therefore, if life presents no
challenges, we feel unfulfilled.
The logical solution to an absence of challenges is to
create them. Some are real; others are imaginary. That’s
the reason why people enjoy brain teasers. We need
problems to solve. That’s how we are built. If we don’t
have problems, we feel compelled to create them.
To be fair, everyone has problems, to one degree or
another. I’m reminded of a pithy saying: “I cried because I
had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.”
Surely it’s better to count our blessings than to lament
that which we lack. More importantly, if we make the
problems of others our own, we gain perspective, we gain
the fulfillment of having solved a problem, and we gain
self respect. Along with that comes a new appreciation for
the blessings that we enjoy.
That’s why when she hears someone complain about the
lack of cell service in a particular area, or the horrors of
waiting in line at the DMV, my friend just shrugs and
says, “That’s a first-world problem.”
Most of us can hearken back to our childhoods and
hear our Moms telling us to finish what is on our plate,
because “children are starving in India.” I never could
figure out how cleaning my plate would solve that
particular problem. Of course, it was Mom’s way of telling
us to appreciate the blessings that we have. We didn’t
use terms like “third-world” or “first-world” in our daily
discourse back then. Still, she gave it her best effort.
In fact, it’s a first-world problem to have a child who won’t
eat his vegetables, when there are mothers whose children
have little or nothing to eat. Einstein wasn’t kidding when
he pointed out that everything is relative.
Growing up with siblings, we invariably complain about
them. As we stumble our way through adult life, we learn
to value them. At some point, many of us have to face the
sad reality that we have lost them. Happy are the parents
whose children appreciate and love their siblings in their
childhood and youth… but again, that’s a first-world
problem.
A few years ago, I made a New Year’s Resolution: To shrug
off my first-world problems, and appreciate the many
blessings that I enjoy. It’s one of the few that I have made,
and the only one that has had a lasting effect on me.
Sometimes I lose sight of it, and I violate it… but that’s
also a first-world problem.
May you enjoy God’s peace this Christmas, and have
nothing but first-world problems in the coming year.
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