You’ve seen the hashtag #FirstWorldProblems before and even laughed at the memes; anyone with internet has at some point. First World Problems are real to us, and apparently, for some people, can be devastating in a world full of instant gratification. However, it can be hard to remember that we are not the majority. There are places around the world where our problems could be seen as Marie Antoinette’s infamous “Let them eat cake” quote. As we all wind up the year with the holidays?and pending new year,?lets keep our lives in perspective. Here are the top ten #firstworldproblems and their real life?counterparts.
?1.
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Poverty is by far one of the defining characteristics of a third world country. Within the United States, and other #firstworld countries, we have our own versions of poverty. To classify as living in poverty, according to the?United Nations standards, a person must live off of ?$1.25 a day. Can you imagine living on about as much as a large drink from a fast food place costs? It can be hard to separate yourself and try to imagine living in extreme poverty, mainly because the vast majority of citizens within first world countries never see it first hand. Sadly, close to one?billion of the population in poverty are children, and the UN states that 22,000 die daily as a direct result from poverty.
2.
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Clean drinking water is the norm here in the states. The majority of homes have running water that is safe for consumption. Our country has set forth?standards?for our water sources, ensuring that our citizens do not drink contaminated water. Along with tap water, every corner store, grocery store, and even concession stands sell bottled water. Clean drinking water is not a common resource within other countries though;?over a billion people without access.
3.
What is your highest priority bill to pay each month? I’m willing to bet that electricity is it. You and I see electricity as lights, power to our TVs, internet modems, phone charges…our toys. There are other things linked in to electricity that tends to be overlooked until we need them. Electrical?necessities?such as appliances like?our refrigerators, air conditioning and/or central heating, and in some areas our water is linked to our electricity. What do you do when your lights flicker off? How would you survive tomorrow if placed in a situation without electricity? Families go to sleep each night under complete darkness, without a nightlight to keep their fears at bay. An estimated 1.6 billion people live without the concept that anything close to electricity is real.
4.
Where do you get your food? Costco, Walmart, or Food Lion? You buy it, and sure maybe you have a little veggie garden. Our society is based off of large, multi-billion dollar agriculture businesses. What do people in countries without these set-ups do? They farm, sell, or barter what they need. Yet roughly 50 percent of all hungry people in the world are farming families. In first world countries, we have foods down to a science. Food scientists genetically tweak seeds to grow stronger crops. There is an disproportionate amount of education and resources on our end, and each year there are dozens of projects focused on educating farmers across the globe.
5.
Diseases, markedly HIV/AIDS, are gutting populations within Africa with 90 percent of ?all children affected by those diseases living in the Sub-Saharan region.?Many?factors?go into the spread of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD’s), with poor education being the one of the leading reasons. Parents within first world countries are expected to discuss with their children the importance of safe sex.?Public schooling offers?classes covering?sexual education?within middle and high schools. Every yearly check-up questions the patient on their sexual health. Birth control and condoms are easily accessible as well. The HIV/AIDS epidemic struck the states hard within the 1980’s and really helped restructure our sexual health education. However, other countries are not following suit.
6.
Recently Americans?passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare, which?opened access for all citizens to be able to afford health insurance, thereby widening the variety of care a person can choose from. No matter your situation here in the states, you have never known?not?having access to healthcare. Even uninsured people have had the (undesirable) option to go to the emergency room, even though many people don’t do this. Within countries all over the world, there is a complete lack of preventative care services. Without healthcare access, a common cold, the flu, or a spider bite, becomes deadly.
7.
Coming from the states, we have seen our fair share of war, right? Not so much. Yes, our troops have died and they continue?fighting for our country; I’m not discrediting their losses. What I am stating is that not since the Civil War has America experienced war first-hand. Sure we have had Pearl Harbor and 9/11, but those are acts of war, not soldiers in your front yard shooting one another. War brings?thousands of soldiers from other countries. They often bring with them?disease, weapons, and pollution. Another darker aspect of war within a third world country?is the role?of the first world countries. We?offer services to countries torn apart by wars that we wouldn’t otherwise. Services offered to developing countries range from food and medical supplies, to guns and ammunition. There is profit in war, and funding the victor can lead to future allies if our country should ever call in that favor.
8.
A new day usually brings with it a new headline about global warming, which is the tip of the iceberg for pollution. Large populations contribute larger amounts of waste which in turn increases pollution. One of the main areas in which pollution can harm a third world country is its effect on agriculture. Pollution is also an?issue?in which first world countries are causing harm to developing countries in exponentiation numbers.
9.
Odds are that you or someone you know has battled depression. A large cornerstone of depression, at least in my experience, is the loss of self-confidence that leads?to?isolation. The cycle I just described is also a?real issue for?third world countries. If all members of a developing nation withdraw, there is an innate lack of society and social interactions. This lack of interactions contributes to the loss of moral guidelines and ethics.
10.
We end this list with hunger. Combine the populations of the United States and the European Union, and?yet an even larger amount of people have no food or unreliable food. Lack of food, obviously, leads to a massive number of deaths. Roughly 2.6 million children die per year?from causes?related to hunger. That equates to one person every five seconds, and that is just in Africa.
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