{"id":3387,"date":"2014-08-15T07:00:43","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/?p=3387"},"modified":"2014-12-06T14:00:39","modified_gmt":"2014-12-06T19:00:39","slug":"36576-first-world-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/36576-first-world-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"365+#76: First World Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Time<\/a>It was a bad day! It started with an unnecessarily long conference call which meant I had to scurry to make my eye doctor appointment. This meant I didn\u2019t have time to recheck my directions, made some wrong turns, and was 16 minutes late. The office informed me that they didn\u2019t honor appointments later than 15 minutes. I would have to come back another day. Since I was already out I decided to use the time to pick up some supplies at a nearby fabric store. When I got to the store, a sign said they had moved \u2013 not close. I decided to give up and return home. On the way I got stuck in a traffic jam. I felt pretty grumpy, but I did have time while sitting in the traffic jam to think \u2013 or maybe it was prayer. Sometimes it\u2019s hard to tell the difference. My reflections led me to the concept:\u00a0“These are First\u00a0World problems”<\/p>\n

While I write this I\u2019m nearing the end of a visit to our daughter who lives in Kenya. It\u2019s a beautiful and corrupt country. Most people would consider it Second or Third\u00a0World. Although my time here has been pleasant enough (partially because I am white, have enough money to travel, and a daughter to provide necessities) I see the poverty around me. Roads are in terrible disrepair. Numerous people are selling trinkets along the roadsides or begging. Those who can afford it have drivers, maids, and security guards. These are considered good jobs because they are jobs. I watch people doing backbreaking work to serve the pleasure of those who have more wealth. Wait, this isn\u2019t all that different than many places in the USA!<\/p>\n

Either way, I\u2019m reminded of the burdens that other people carry \u2013 most are much bigger than being stuck in traffic or having to reschedule an eye appointment. Being mindful of these realities reduces my stress and helps put life in perspective.<\/p>\n

A few times in my life I have faced serious problems \u2013 sickness, job loss, emotional distress \u2013 but mostly my problems pale when compared to people who are really suffering in my world or any world.<\/p>\n

What have I learned?<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Be mindful. It will probably\u00a0lead to gratitude.<\/li>\n
  2. Stay close enough to those who have less, to be reminded of my privilege.<\/li>\n
  3. Do something to respond to the needs of those who suffer. This might be by donations of time or money, or through political action.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    How do you cope?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It was a bad day! It started with an unnecessarily long conference call which meant I had to scurry to make my eye doctor appointment. This meant I didn\u2019t have time to recheck my directions, made some wrong turns, and was 16 minutes late. The office informed me that they didn\u2019t honor appointments later than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[29,17,32],"class_list":["post-3387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beyond-stuff","tag-intangibles","tag-musings","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3387"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3393,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3387\/revisions\/3393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}