What’s your first world problem?

So much is going on in the world, much of it bleak. Cyclones, floods, uprisings and of course the devastating earthquake in Christchurch this week which has left many of us standing in front of our TV with gaping mouths. It can be hard to know how to handle the triviality of regular life in the face of so much bad news and so much suffering. One approach is to tackle it, full-frontal. Because life goes on. The annoyances and pissy little things that happen to all of us are still annoying even though we do have moments of perspective and gratitude and relief that our biggest problem has nothing to do with being trapped under rubble or faced with an uncertain future because you’ve lost a house or worse, a loved one.

Time for First World Problems. A way to take a light-hearted, ironic look at the ridiculous things we’re lucky enough to call problems right now. We share them not to diminish the REAL problems of those who are suffering and who are in our thoughts and hearts. But to acknowledge that life does indeed go on and perhaps sharing our silly little gripes will help alleviate the guilt we have for even complaining about them.

For example, I seem to have sprained one of the fingers on my left hand from turning the wheel of my large car too vigorously. And it hurts.

What’s your First World Problem?