An interesting experiment is to imagine having a conversation with a
friend and someone without your privileges. How would your statements sound to them? Do you still see the problem as a significant issue?
When Mr. and Mrs. O have
conversations with their expat neighbour as his househelp watches his
daughter in the room, they become hyper-aware of this disconnect. Suddenly statements like, "My daughter's pre-school schedule
is so inconvenient," ''The cheese selection in the supermarkets is terrible - how can I make a decent lasagna?'' or "I think we want to go to South Africa for
Christmas but flights and hotels are so expensive in December," become embarrassing
to the speaker.
Again, your problems are valid and they are your own. But this is one way of putting them in perspective, perchance to help overcome them.
Note: David Cain's Raptitude blog (highly recommended) tackles the unbearable lightness of everyday Western living with a healthy dose of zen, mindfulness and introspection. Mr. O has found this perspective useful as the family started the process of packing their middle class lives and moving to a lower income nation where they have become relatively upper class. Relevant topics include having too much "stuff", your incredible wealth and power, and making a moral issue of being inconvenienced.
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