Walker Percy is likely the best writer on what are today aptly called “first world problems,” those trifling inconveniences experienced by people who have been relieved of the serious struggle to provide for daily necessities. Classic first world problems include things like being forced to endure malfunctioning Wi-Fi or discovering Starbucks ran out of their signature syrup to make your favorite seasonal hand-crafted latte.
Much this mockery is self-mockery. Calling attention to your fleeting first world problem is a way of coping with being unhappy and feeling alienated (and being embarrassed by that alienation) despite otherwise comfortable circumstances. Americans are materially well off, enjoy robust protections of civil liberty and personal liberty, and remain (mostly) free from arbitrary government. So, while first world problems are typically trivial, they helpfully point to a deeper spiritual dislocation, our reluctant self-awareness of it, and an all too often bitter helplessness to do something about it.
Walker Percy takes very seriously the fact that people are unhappy—and that people are even unhappier because they believe they should be happy. Alienation is a first world problem. Underneath the self-ridicule heaped upon first world problems, there is an acknowledgement that despite the relief of our estate, all is not well. As Percy likes to say, something has gone wrong.
Read Full Article »