Brianna+H’s+OpEd+Article

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=**# firstworldproblems**=

====Recently, the phrase "first-world problem" has trended. I really hate it. I wouldn't say it's the bane of my existence, but it ranks with YOLO, swag, and #insertrandomuselessthingherethatnoonecaresaboutandservesnopurposeexcepttobeexceedinglyhardreadduetothelackofspaces. But it has become so popular, that I have even caught myself saying it, despite my aversion to it.====

====Basically, what the phrases is so concisely stating is that you shouldn't be complaining about your problems because there are people in second or third-world countries who have bigger problems. And that is absolutely correct. There are people who have greater problems, just as there people whose lesser problems. But just because someone has it worse, doesn't mean that you shouldn't be allowed to talk about your issues. If a 5-year-old had a paper cut and they were crying, you wouldn't go up to them and tell them to suck it up because there are starving children in Africa. Firstly, that would just be a mean thing to do, and secondly, there is no logic whatsoever to that argument.====

====Everybody has pain, but everyone feels it on a different scale. For some people, an insult (such as "your hair looks bad") could feel like a 4 on the imaginary emotional pain scale. For others, an insult might not even register on the scale, and their idea of a 4 would be a close friend or relative telling them that they're worthless. No two people are going to feel pain the same way, and so it's useless trying to compare your pain with the pain of someone else.====

====So what gives someone the right to say that another person doesn't have as much pain and hardship as a person who lives in a different geographical location? I feel like the use of this phrase is as ignorant as it is arrogant, and should stop floating around in the category of "completely appropriate and okay to use in social situations".====