August 12: The Dark Side of "First World Problems"

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My

Favourite Winter Coat

This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind

I See The Kids In The Street,

With Not Enough To Eat

Who Am I, To Be Blind?

Pretending Not To See

Their Needs

A Summer's Disregard,

A Broken Bottle Top

And A One Man's Soul

They Follow Each Other On

The Wind Ya' Know

'Cause They Got Nowhere

To Go

That's Why I Want You To

Know

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change

I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish
Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not
Alone?

Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson

Ok, so you can say a lot of things about Michael Jackson, but he was spot on with this one. Ever hear a song a million times and never really stop and listen to it? Really listen to the words and think about what they have to say?

Ever drive down the street and really stop to look at the homeless man on the corner? Ever see the commercials with the malnourished, orphaned children and look away? Do you really see the elderly neighbor who can't keep up with his house anymore, or the family down the road who struggles to make ends meet? Or the woman without hair, in a quiet war for her very life against disease, who can hardly manage to get out of bed every morning? Do you see them?

It's so easy to hear but not really listen and to look but not really see. It's so easy to walk on by. It's so easy to not look past the bridge of our own noses, past the comfortable American Dream, to see anyone else's need. Anyone else's pain. It's easy to live near-sighted, completely absorbed with our own stuff. 

Here are a few of the billions of results from a quick search of #firstworldproblems on Twitter:

I hate it when #bravo has first parts of real housewives reunions at one time and then the final part at an earlier one #firstworldproblems

There is currently a sign on Chipotle's door that says they are out of cheese. Seriously? What is the world coming to? #FirstWorldProblems

Can this lightning stop? Want to plug my laptop in, If power won't surge. #FirstWorldProblems

i hate sitting at the fridge waiting for my water bottle to fill up #firstworldproblems

I just finished the finale of my TV show and now I feel empty inside. #firstworldproblems

I'm tired of eating... I had too much food today #firstworldproblems

I hate not knowing how much salt I'm putting on my food #firstworldproblems

My husband just bought me a new HTC smartphone & it's causing me anxiety because I don't like change #firstworldproblems

Your phone getting below 10% has to be one of the most stressful things in life #firstworldproblems

Both sides of my pillow are warm. #firstworldproblems

Those huge ass TVs they are giving away at work makes me come home and resent my normal sized one. I need one! #firstworldproblems

My xbox controller died :( good thing I have a kinect. Lol. #firstworldproblems

"LOL"

As a culture, we think that this is funny. And we laugh. I'm sure I did at one point, too. But anymore this all just makes me sick. The only #firstworldproblems I can see here are those of gluttony, ignorance, entitlement, and greed.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what does this one say to you?

You guys, we have no clue. No clue as to what some people in this world are going through.


What people in third world countries wouldn't give for fresh, clean water out of a faucet!! Water that they didn't have to walk 7 miles to retrieve in a yellow jug and carry back on their head. Water that isn't contaminated with human waste and parasites, yet they have no choice but to drink it. 

And too much food? Each year, 2.6 million children die as a result of hunger-related causes. That's about 1 child every 10 seconds. Think about that next time you're standing at the fridge waiting the ten seconds for your water bottle to fill up.

With everything going on in the world today, we need to wake up from this American Dream. I know that it's so easy to turn a blind eye, to look but not really see. I've done it myself for so long. The world with all it's endless needs can be so overwhelming. What could one little person do?

CHOOSE ONE.

Choose one. One person, one need, one cause. 

One life. 

And start today. Start across the street or across the globe. Start somewhere.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?  Matthew 16:24-26

God didn't call you to pick up all the crosses and carry them all the way all the time. He called you to pick up ONE cross. YOUR cross, and follow Him, one step at a time. It will take you out of your comfort zone. It will be hard. It will involve sacrifice. Maybe even pain. But when you lose your very life for Him, that's when you will find it.

As it turns out, easy, comfortable obedience really isn't obedience at all. It's time we all took a good, long look at the man in the mirror.

If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change

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