First World Problems Aren't Problems

I was alerted to this video the other day via Twitter, and I have to say I didn't expect what I saw. If you're a Twitterite like me, you'll know that one of the popular things to add a hashtag to is "First World Problems". For those of you who don't know what this is, allow me to explain:

First world problems consist of "problems" that we have being a privileged first world country. Examples:

"My cable went out, what am I supposed to do with myself?"

"Starbucks is closed today; how will I ever make it through my day?!"

"Need to plug in my laptop... outlet is too far away"

"Why can't the fridge be next to the couch?"

And so on and so forth. Naturally, these things are utterly ridiculous complaints, and just emphasize the fact that our nation is spoiled by the daily things we enjoy.

But this video attacks 'first world problems' from a different angle. It's humbling, seeing children in a third world country talk about the so-called 'problems' that we endure. Endure is hardly the right word -- it's more like a complaint of something that is so trivial that it shouldn't be a problem at all. Being in a first world country, we should be thankful for a roof over our heads, clothes to last us weeks, multiple pairs of shoes, electricity, running water, plentiful bounties of food. Poverty-stricken Haitians pretty much puts it all perspective. We are ridiculous -- why complain about these things? The things that we take for granted every day in life are things that these children would die to have. It's good to get a reality check every once in awhile just to remind us of how lucky we are -- and how grateful we should be for all that we have.