Well ladies and gentlemen, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
There comes a time in all of our lives when you just gotta kwicherbichen because it could be worse.
That’s usually the approach I take on things.
If my back hurts, I don’t say anything about it. I’ve seen real back pain and mine fails in comparison. I address it and move on.
If I have a financial concern, I don’t say anything about it. I’ve seen real financial concerns and mine fail in comparison. I address it and move on.
If I have a pothole in my mental health, I don’t say anything about it. I’ve seen real mental health concerns and mine fail in comparison. I address it and move on.
If I have a setback, I don’t say anything about it. I’ve seen real setbacks, and mine fail in comparison. I address it and move on.
I don’t have very many bad days, because of my ability to address it, whatever it may be, and move on.
The concerns of the first world are alive and well on my own little island, and I’m not oblivious to that fact.
I keep encountering brilliant displays of perspective on social networking.
“For those you worrying about the price of gas and how it’s gone up, consider those in the Ukraine being forced from their home.”
“Wouldn’t you be willing to pay a lot more for a loaf of bread knowing that the Ukraine wasn’t being subjected to naked aggression?”
“Instead of complaining about [insert your first world problem here], try feeling grateful that you’re not experiencing [selected atrocity felt by the Ukraine] instead.”
What’s going on in the Ukraine is a real problem, and your first world problems fail in comparison.
Address it and move on.
Allow me to offer up some perspective to those who are offering up some perspective.
Your perspective and the perspective you’re offering are askew.
You have either forgotten, or set aside your knowledge about how both parties in the whole situation, the aggressor and the victim, are corrupt.
Afterall, didn’t the U.S. threaten to withhold aid from Ukraine over a corrupt prosecutor? Didn’t a Ukrainian energy company install a board member because his father was a highly placed U.S. official? Didn’t corruption in the Ukraine lead to the impeachment of a U.S. President?
But wait, there’s more, because your perspective isn’t only being skewed by corruption of the aggressor and the victim. Your news source is corrupt, regardless of which one you rely on, regardless of which way they lean on the political spectrum.
They are not telling you the whole, unexpurgated story. They are not vetting their sources. They are not giving you an unbiased reporting.
They haven’t done so in a long time.
They are driving a specific narrative that they want you to believe.
They have been doing that for a long time.
Let’s summarize.
Both parties in the conflict are corrupt.
Your news sources are corrupt.
Now let’s get back to our first world problems.
I reserve the right to bitch, gripe, and moan about it, regardless of the subsequent virtue signaling I’m to endure that offers perspective that “It could be worse, look at what’s going on in the Ukraine.”
Do you think that what’s going on in the Ukraine is the cause of our recent first world problems?
If you answered yes, then that’s where your perspective is skewed.
Our current first world problems stem from an unsecure border.
Our current first world problems stem from our refusal to prosecute crime.
Our current first world problems stem from our abandonment of energy independence.
Our current first world problems stem from our inability to project strength abroad.
Our current first world problems stem from a stupid, lying asshole and his weak administration.
All of the problems in the Ukraine which you think caused our first world problems are actually a downstream impact of our first world problems.
