August 2012
19 posts
Do you ever get the feeling that something is missing?
Either a person, a place, a thing, an idea? Even if you don’t know what that entity could possibly be?
For me, it’s the most unsettling feeling in the world.
“I don’t like this expression ‘First World problems.’ It is false and it is condescending. Yes, Nigerians struggle with floods or infant mortality. But these same Nigerians also deal with mundane and seemingly luxurious hassles. Connectivity issues on your BlackBerry, cost of car repair, how to sync your iPad, what brand of noodles to buy: Third World problems. All the silly stuff of life doesn’t disappear just because you’re black and live in a poorer country. People in the richer nations need a more robust sense of the lives being lived in the darker nations. Here’s a First World problem: the inability to see that others are as fully complex and as keen on technology and pleasure as you are.”
—
Teju Cole (via thewhiskeypropagandist)
Again, I don’t usually reblog stuff like this, but….yup.
(via bybystarlight)
Okay, I think this is getting a bit nit picky. I’m biased because I use this phrase myself, but I do want to point out that I don’t say it to insinuate that a) I’m more complex than people of third world nations, or b) I’m more keen on technology and pleasure. I say it because I think, “Wow, it’s really stupid that I’m mad that my text is sending two seconds later than when I want it to when damn, it’s amazing I can text my sister from the other side of the country in a speedy fashion!”
I know that I personally, and many other people, use the phrase “first world problems” just to poke fun at how we get so annoyed and wrapped up over the tiniest things, usually involving technology, to the point of losing sight of the more important things in life. I dunno. First world problems. :P
Play
0:21
