Have you seen the recent cultural trend of people taking to social media to complain about their problems, which are actually just minor inconveniences? #firstworld  (e.g., they spelled my name wrong at Starbucks, I really want to wear white pants but it’s after Labor Day, my cell phone is dying but my charger is all the way upstairs…etc.)  Well, I had a big one yesterday. I stood in my kitchen and thought, “I don’t have enough Halloween decorations in here to coordinate with the rest of my home. I need to get to the store today to buy a few more things –stat”.

Admittedly, I have a lot of these moments. It’s easy to become so hyper-focused on every minute detail of our polished lifestyles that we actually forget what a real problem is. But is it ok to care about frivolity too? I have had my share of problems. Actual problems. Problems other’s aren’t even willing to try to comprehend because they’re so earth-shatteringly terrifying, but standing in the middle of my kitchen concerning myself over decorations may not be a ‘first world’ problem at all. I mean, it is, but what if it’s actually also a tell-tale sign that I’m doing ok? What if it means that I haven’t allowed myself to be so consumed by the grief I feel over losing my child that I can actually still function in a normal capacity? What if it means that I’m doing alright?

I hope it does. I’ve seen others lose themselves as they follow their grief down the rabbit hole. I’ve seen them spiral into oblivion as they, step by step, move away from society, family and friends, and even their lives outside their own mind. What’s worse, is when someone becomes so consumed by their own misfortune that they become immune to recognizing it in others and lose their capacity for compassion.

I think that when an issue occurs is when you start to take your ‘first world’ nonsense and see is as an actual problem. Not having enough Halloween decorations is not only not a problem, it’s not even a minor inconvenience. It’s just a testament to my following suit of the consumerism mentality of my culture and my buying in to the idea of materialism itself. Whether they’re ‘first world’ or third world, when an issue in your life becomes so polarizing that you can’t see past it and you fail to pick up on the hardships faced by your fellow man, you begin to lose your humanity.

Last night I had dinner with a group of women from church. It’s a dinner we have once a month at various restaurants around town. A time to try new places, socialize together, and get out of the house…alone (which can seem like a big deal when you’re a mom and wife). We had a new member in our group. She was excited to be there because she “never gets to go out to restaurants”. And she had never been out to a girl’s night before. She’s pregnant and has no support. The baby’s father is not involved in her life. She lives with a friend, for now. She had another child that was taken away and adopted out permanently a few years ago. She just got out of prison. She has no car, no job, no skills, and no GED. She doesn’t qualify for most of the assistance programs available because of her imprisonment. Her mother is also in prison, is addicted to drugs, and is not even emotionally supportive of her. She had wandered into our church a few weeks ago spontaneously to ask for prayers. In these few short weeks she’s been attending services, Bible studies, and was even baptized. She told us at dinner how she feels that God is giving her a second chance with this baby and she desperately wants to do things right this time, for his sake.

She asked if we would be willing to come to the hospital when she has her baby. Here she was asking a group of practical strangers to be with her because she literally had no one else. It was evident throughout the dinner as she divulged the details of her life that she just wanted to talk, about anything. She just wanted someone around her to sit and listen. To see her, to hear her, to care. Here was a very young woman with no one, grasping at straws, reaching out to any of us asking us to care about her. And I think I don’t have enough Halloween decorations? That was my big issue of the day? We go out to dinner whenever I just don’t feel like cooking, and she hadn’t been out to a restaurant in who knows how long. I felt ashamed in so many ways for the things I complain about in my privileged life, but I also felt pangs of sorrow for her, and in such, knew that I was able to sympathize with her. I may have suffered an inconceivable personal loss in the death of my daughter, but my experience has not hardened me. It has made me more sensitive to the plights of others. I have not lost my humanity to my own sense of grief and sorrow. Only that would be a real tragedy (#problem) in my life.