First world problems freak me out

I don't know when or who first started the phrase "first world problems", but I do remember when I first heard it said to me.  It was in November, 2013 and I was at a marathon expo and in line waiting to get my runner's package and shirt.  I was excited to be there and could not wait to run the marathon the next day.  I save up my money every year to run my marathons and its' an awesome event for me and whoever comes with me. So when I got to the womyn behind a mound of tech race shirts who was finding the right shirt size for the runners, I asked for a size medium in womyns.  She said they only had large left.  I expressed my dismay and was okay with getting the next size when the womyn said to me "first world problems I suppose; nothing you can do about it" and handed me the tech shirt. What? I looked at the woman with confusion in my eyes as I could not fathom what she had just said to me. I had no idea that there was such a thing as "first world problems"!  Well, I suppose I did but I knew it to be called something else; white privilege. I walked away from the womyn shaking my head wondering if she still would say that if she realised that within this first world of privilege that she moved herself with ease in (she wasn't a minority) that there lay third worlds?  That phrase that the womyn said to me that day stayed with me and irks me still every time I hear it.   We are now in a time where people are disguising white privilege behind a catch phrase "first world problems" to make it appear nicer, to justify privilege or to excuse lack of action for real issues and concerns within the world we live in and that freaks me out! It should freak out others as well.  When did it become okay to be a tiered class system? First world people have problems now...really? Howah, join the club!

I live on a reserve (although not always), have worked and visited many reserves that are third world within Canada itself.  I believe it is deplorable that the government can spend in excess to help out others in other countries but not it's supposed own.  I also find it absurd that people who are rich can say to others who are in need that it is really only a first world problem and that they should stop complaining.  Really now? Yes, I say that a lot because I can't fathom why it exists, I really can't.

I grew up poor on my reserve and didn't live in a house with running water until I was 13 years or so. Actually, in those days when I was younger, we had to live on the land for a year before we could apply and get a house - government regulations it seems.  We lived in a tent for 3 seasons before my grandmother gave us a place to stay (a run down home that had nothing but rooms).  We lived in other houses after that that had no running water but had an outhouse in the back until eventually, many year later, we got into a newer home that had running water and electricity. I remember thinking it was awesome not to have to go to the lake to get water and that we could actually flush our toilet and that the lights turned on!  Yet, back then (and now in some places) houses on reserves were often timber boxes as they were poorly made. While we gained in some areas, we lost in others.  I lost my uncle many, many years ago in a house fire.  He lived right across from us and his house went up in flames within 5 minutes.  No one could do a thing. It was very sad.  As time changes, some things don't.  Today there are many reserves where their communities still have to go to the lake to get water and that their houses are so overcrowded with family due to the housing and economic situations that they are fire hazards and health risks to those who live in them.  To say it is a first world problem that people don't know the deplorable conditions of it's First Nations people is disgusting and grossly inaccurate.  Maybe it is a first world problem that ignorance comes from privilege; maybe but I doubt it.

In Canada right now there are murdered and missing Aboriginal womyn; the government refuses to call an inquiry ( http://www.amnesty.ca/our-work/issues/indigenous-peoples/no-more-stolen-sisters).  Is this a first world problem? When do we stop looking at status, at systems of race and gender, at positions of privilege and start becoming one where we are all valued and there are no first worlds, second worlds, third worlds? It's crazee making.

I think I am more pissed off with the fact that the womyn who said it to me that very day couldn't say that she wished there were more shirts and that she could empathize with me. Not everyone has money at hand to attend these events; marathons to me are about empowerment of self where getting there is often 3/4 of the empowering.  I know she didn't know that I saved up for the event and that I wasn't coming from any sort of privilege at that moment (yes, Aboriginal people can be privileged - albeit quite a bit different from other privilege like white privilege) or that I have fought and continue to fight for every inch of movement that I make within the world, but still she didn't have to excuse it off the way she did.

So, where am I going with this?  I believe we need to stop excusing "first world problems" and explore why Canada has a third world within it.  And how do we do that? We need to address white privilege openly so that all can move themselves in a way that opens the doors for everyone.  I don't care that I didn't get the right sized shirt although that would have be nice.  I did get a shirt that I earned the right to wear and that is what mattered to me that day (well that was only a small part of what mattered to me that day- running 26.2 miles was a big thing to do for me).  

So after the marathon that morning, I drove 6 hours (it was a long drive with some sore but happy muscles) to my reserve, my home, where I proudly showed my race tech shirt to my family.  I then went to the bathtub (ever so grateful for running water), ran the water and sat my sore but awesome body into my bathtub.  I worked hard for this soreness and my muscles craved this bath.  Running water, lights, a roof over my head...yes life is good if we choose to open our eyes to it.  No excuses, no first world problems;  I left that where it belonged.

Miigwech.  Take what you need from my story and no more.  It is all good.

Carrianne