ArtFriend

I just watched a segment on the CBS morning show called Sunday Morning about the Vietnamese "marketplace". The waters are crammed with boats and barges filled with people selling their wares to one another. One 50 year old woman buys fruits and veggies from the vendors and fills up her row boat and then re-sells them to people on shore. She is rowing her boat all day and schlepping watermelons on shore. Makes 10 bucks for the day.

So I started thinking about these people... their extreme poverty. They barely subsist. Do they turn to drugs and alcohol to bury the pain of their existence? I am sure some do. But I would wager most do not. They accept life as it is.

And I have my first world problems... which in contrast to these Vietnamese people are no problems at all. I always have enough food and shelter. I have my nice car, 60 inch TV, several computers. Yet, I don't seem to be content. And I turn to alcohol as a relief. It is perplexing. Maybe I should have a more global perception of what "problems" are. That perspective is more accurate.

GroundhogDay

I've traveled to a lot of "not-so-nice" areas of the world. Definitely helps me put my first-world problems into perspective.

Saskia

Sadly, too many people in the world have to put all of their time, energy and other resources into the business of staying alive. Addictions, however, know no class and cut across wealth and poverty alike. I doubt that people in severe poverty "accept" their situation but think that they don't have the means to improve their lot.

However, I believe it's important for all of us to be aware of the inequities in our world, see ourselves in the larger frame of reference and do what we can to help. And yes, I agree that we sometimes need a reminder of just how much more we have than many!

EverNew

I agree - it is very perplexing. What is it that we so badly need to escape with such force? My god... Boredom perhaps? Restlessness? Emptiness due to lack of social cohesion? I think of the function of groups like AA - our need to share about experience, be understood, receive encouragement. I don't know...

ScottFromWI

Gratitide is helpful, but for me the real key was having ( and accepting ) that the problem of alcoholism lies 100% within myself.

PurpleKnight

I remember seeing a documentary about cocaine production in South America and the exploitation of poorer farmers by the cartels who end up making all the money, by importing it to the US and selling it.

Some of these farmers then end up not only in drug production but in taking the byproducts of cocaine manufacture, then their kids go on to be a apart of the production years down the line and so the cycle continues.

For me it really brought it home that we have so many resources and so much help around us in order to quit our addictions, when we finally decide we want help it is there, whereas people in other countries with less means can be stuck in a never ending cycle, one much tougher to break.

FLCamper

Programs like that are a good reminder to be grateful.
I'm guessing most people in third world countries do accept their lives - but they don't know anything else.

Fly N Buy

The really good news is I am not the director nor responsible to all the worlds problems - 1st, 2nd, 3rd world or any of the aliens I encounter

I simply need to grab my broom and sweep my porch. I am grateful for not only what I have, but the pain that I go through - there is a purpose.

A grain of wheat is small and nothing unto itself. Just another tiny thing. But, when it dies, falls to the ground and grows - it becomes an entire field of wheat.

Thanks for the thread AF - Yes, we of decadence should understand for many we have Cadillac problems.....

Wholesome

I'm dog sitting and the little mutt puked on my bed this morning! Talk about a first world problem! lol

thomas11

Hi Artfriend, boy, that is a loaded OP and could lead to an hours long conversation amongst the intelligentsia (ya know, the college professors and so forth). I firmly believe we do it (drink excessively) because we can. Its the same reason a dog licks his...... Because he can. These folks you refer to need to eat, they need to do what they can to stay alive and sleep at night. Being a drunk is a luxury (if you want to call it that) they can't afford.

Marcher13

Interesting OP Art, I'll offer you a spin on your thoughts. A friend of mine, who's in his early 40s, came to Australia from Vietnam (as a refugee) with his family when he was 8 years old. His parents somehow got the whole family onto a leaky boat endured the torturous journey, landed here and gained asylum. They worked hard, the kids went to school here and they've built an amazing life. There was only one fly in the ointment, ten years after they landed the father (who had been the driving force) became an alcoholic and eventually left his family, he's now homeless and getting old.

Addiction, as Sass said, knows no boundaries.

Dee74

I certainly appreciate the thrust of the thread - but the sad truth is that alcoholism is rife throughout the world.

Off the wagon: Vietnam's binge-drinking problem | Daily Mail Online

Alcoholism on the Rise in Africa as Beverage Multinationals Circle | TIME.com

http://santiagotimes.cl/chile-tops-l...on-first-time/

D

LucindaVanPelt

I agree, interesting OP Artfriend. And I take your point about perspective.

But I know, speaking for myself, that my alcoholism has nothing to do with materialism or lack thereof (although money troubles have admittedly triggered some binges); it's endemic to me, meaning no amount of freedom from want would make a blind bit of difference to whether I drink or not. It continues to be a difficult, lonely struggle that I'm fortunate enough to face in comfy circumstances.

Tang

First world guilt can provide some value to remind us what we have. I used to starve myself over this guilt. I developed an eating disorder as a result. A very wise person once said "a problem is a problem regardless of whether it is first or third world.". The point being is, first world problems are still problems to be tackled. We live in a fallen world and we can expect plenty of problems to come our way, no matter where we live.

MythOfSisyphus

The flip side of that is that sometimes those who appear to have so little actually have everything they need. I heard it said that humans need three things- something to do, something to look forward to and something to love. We in the West often substitute our big screens and cars for those three things and then wonder why we're unfulfilled. Living has to be about more than accumulating things. As an ancient philosopher Epicurus once said, "If you wish to make Pythocles wealthy, don't give him more money; rather, reduce his desires."