[LJ Idol 7: Topic 8] First World Solutions
With all this talk about First World Problems, I thought I'd take a moment to point out the flip side:
First World Solutions.
You know the ones. The ones that sound absolutely brilliant on paper (on monitor?) but tend to fall apart because humans who have problems tend also to have limited resources for solving the problems. Pretty much anything that begins with, "Well, why don't you just...?" or "Why doesn't s/he just...?" is probably a First World Solution - also known as a solution that is Simple, Neat, and Wrong.
When I say "limited resources", I mean exactly that. My personal Resource Rectangle for conceptualizing resources is: time, space, money, and spoons. [Feel free to substitute "energy" for "spoons" if you don't believe the spoon theory is appropriate to your life - although, for most of the situations in which First World Solutions are an issue, I am talking about spoon theory in the "lack of energy due to disability or chronic pain" sense.] A First World Solution, in my experience, assumes that any person who lacks one of the four parts of the Resource Rectangle has the other three, if not exactly in abundance, certainly in sufficient supply to overcome the lack of the one that is drastically short.
For example: If you need to save time, hire a cleaning lady! If you're short on space, buy (and take home and assemble) the latest storage solution from IKEA! If you're short on money, make delicious and nutritious home-cooked meals your kids will love from cheap ingredients bought in bulk! If you don't have enough energy to get everything done...well, that's a tough one, but there is some combination of time and money that you can throw at it, right?
A single lack on the Resource Rectangle is, I'd say more often than not, not going to be the case. People who are short on money are usually short on at least one of the other three resources, and not infrequently all four are in short supply.
So much in the way of "helpful advice" on improving one's life assumes a certain baseline of all four resources, plus more besides:
- A stable, safe, non-violent (heterosexual!) relationship with a significant other, or the active desire to obtain such a relationship.
- A stable, safe neighborhood with a "good" school district.
- An owned or leased vehicle, or at least regular access to one, and the license to drive one. Outside of a select few urban areas, this assumption becomes one fully functional motor vehicle per licensed driver.
- Housing that is generally in compliance with modern USA housing codes, and that is not "overcrowded" past that point. (Sometimes, considerably more than this is assumed, but this is the baseline.)
- A kitchen that has a fully functional and full-sized refrigerator/freezer, stove, sink, microwave, cabinet set with countertop space, and possibly dishwasher and garbage disposal. And let's not forget the table, chairs, dishes, and complete sets of pots, pans, cutlery, spices, etc.
- Nobody in the household with significant physical disabilities or chronic pain whatsoever.
- Nobody in the household with mental health problems worse than mild-to-moderate unipolar depression or anxiety (in girls and women) or ADHD (in boys and men). Something "minor enough" that if the person who had it really wanted to, it would be A-OK to quit taking meds for, because positive thinking and/or 100% All Natural Herbal Snake Oil would be enough.
- Nobody in the household requiring a non-standard clothing or shoe size.
- A household employment situation consistent with being able to cover all "necessary" costs, for the advice-giver's definition of "necessary", with something left over.
- Extended family and friends that are immediately available to help out in the event of any temporary crisis. (And of course, said crisis WILL be very temporary!)
- Etc.
And then of course, there is the ultimate First World Solution: to assume all of the above, and thus to mock any and all problems that the other person has as First World Problems that could easily be solved with some combination of willpower, positive thinking, mindfulness, self-empowerment, self-discipline, pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps, and recognizing that "EVERY problem you have is a first world problem! Think of the Starving Children In Africa!"
...and maybe, with a couple of bottles of 100% All Natural Herbal Snake Oil.
First World Solutions.
You know the ones. The ones that sound absolutely brilliant on paper (on monitor?) but tend to fall apart because humans who have problems tend also to have limited resources for solving the problems. Pretty much anything that begins with, "Well, why don't you just...?" or "Why doesn't s/he just...?" is probably a First World Solution - also known as a solution that is Simple, Neat, and Wrong.
When I say "limited resources", I mean exactly that. My personal Resource Rectangle for conceptualizing resources is: time, space, money, and spoons. [Feel free to substitute "energy" for "spoons" if you don't believe the spoon theory is appropriate to your life - although, for most of the situations in which First World Solutions are an issue, I am talking about spoon theory in the "lack of energy due to disability or chronic pain" sense.] A First World Solution, in my experience, assumes that any person who lacks one of the four parts of the Resource Rectangle has the other three, if not exactly in abundance, certainly in sufficient supply to overcome the lack of the one that is drastically short.
For example: If you need to save time, hire a cleaning lady! If you're short on space, buy (and take home and assemble) the latest storage solution from IKEA! If you're short on money, make delicious and nutritious home-cooked meals your kids will love from cheap ingredients bought in bulk! If you don't have enough energy to get everything done...well, that's a tough one, but there is some combination of time and money that you can throw at it, right?
A single lack on the Resource Rectangle is, I'd say more often than not, not going to be the case. People who are short on money are usually short on at least one of the other three resources, and not infrequently all four are in short supply.
So much in the way of "helpful advice" on improving one's life assumes a certain baseline of all four resources, plus more besides:
- A stable, safe, non-violent (heterosexual!) relationship with a significant other, or the active desire to obtain such a relationship.
- A stable, safe neighborhood with a "good" school district.
- An owned or leased vehicle, or at least regular access to one, and the license to drive one. Outside of a select few urban areas, this assumption becomes one fully functional motor vehicle per licensed driver.
- Housing that is generally in compliance with modern USA housing codes, and that is not "overcrowded" past that point. (Sometimes, considerably more than this is assumed, but this is the baseline.)
- A kitchen that has a fully functional and full-sized refrigerator/freezer, stove, sink, microwave, cabinet set with countertop space, and possibly dishwasher and garbage disposal. And let's not forget the table, chairs, dishes, and complete sets of pots, pans, cutlery, spices, etc.
- Nobody in the household with significant physical disabilities or chronic pain whatsoever.
- Nobody in the household with mental health problems worse than mild-to-moderate unipolar depression or anxiety (in girls and women) or ADHD (in boys and men). Something "minor enough" that if the person who had it really wanted to, it would be A-OK to quit taking meds for, because positive thinking and/or 100% All Natural Herbal Snake Oil would be enough.
- Nobody in the household requiring a non-standard clothing or shoe size.
- A household employment situation consistent with being able to cover all "necessary" costs, for the advice-giver's definition of "necessary", with something left over.
- Extended family and friends that are immediately available to help out in the event of any temporary crisis. (And of course, said crisis WILL be very temporary!)
- Etc.
And then of course, there is the ultimate First World Solution: to assume all of the above, and thus to mock any and all problems that the other person has as First World Problems that could easily be solved with some combination of willpower, positive thinking, mindfulness, self-empowerment, self-discipline, pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps, and recognizing that "EVERY problem you have is a first world problem! Think of the Starving Children In Africa!"
...and maybe, with a couple of bottles of 100% All Natural Herbal Snake Oil.