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11/8/2012, 7:44pm

First World Problems: Are they really worth it?

By Nicholas Finio
First World Problems: Are they really worth it?

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According to globalissues.org, approximately 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. The number of children in the world is 2.2 billion, 1 billion of them lives in poverty with insignificant shelter and serious health risks. That means every other child is lacking a “normal” life lived by an average American child, like you and I once were.

These facts are not the problem, nor are the statistics that back them up. The problem is, while children are starving and fighting for their lives in other countries, we are complaining about the battery on our phones not lasting long enough, Twitter being down for a couple of minutes or when we miss our favorite television show because we forgot to record it on our DVR.

Whether we are aware of it or not, there are serious problems out in this world that are not being fully acknowledged by people across the U.S. Yes,some organizations are partaking in the cause to create a better-off and peaceful place to live, but many of us aimlessly walk around looking for the next hiccup in our day to drive us up the wall.

When did we become such unaware beings? Where did this spark of ignorance come from? The moves we make toward bettering ourselves include helping others around us and taking into consideration how appreciative we should be of the lives we are given.

I have come to recently not take for granted everything that is in front of me, and I implore you to do the same. Luckily, we are not starving or dying in another country because we have hospitals, food, shelter, friends and family to support us in our daily lives. Life is tough but trust me, it could be much, much worse.

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