Are everyone’s valid problems still valid if others elsewhere have it worse?

Question

Today is probably not a good day to be bringing this up as there are big issues going on in the world right now
Mainly Ukraine, of course. And let me preface this by saying I sympathize immensely with the people of Ukraine. What they have experienced today and unfortunately will likely continue to experience is absolutely heartbreaking, it overwhelms me and brings me to tears. I don’t know what to do from where I live, and I sure as heck have no idea how they are being so brave and what I would do if I were in their shoes. It’s truly unimaginably scary and sad.
However, living in North America as I have my whole life, I can’t help but be perplexed sometimes as we do you have problems of our own and we are always judging our neighbours for feeling like our problems are big just because others elsewhere have problems that may seem or may actually be bigger! Does that nullify the fact that we to have problems that feel overwhelmingly large to some of us as either American or Canadian citizens? 
What I am alluding to is mainly social media users shaming fellow Canadians and Americans for fighting for our freedom‘s and for feeling oppressed because we aren’t being bombed like Ukrainians. Telling us to “check our privilege“. While yes, I would likely rather have our problems than theirs, I don’t think that they aren’t problems that are valid and worth mentioning/fighting to eliminate.  So because we aren’t in the middle of a war we should check ourselves, and shut up about our domestic issues? You know what I mean? 
I dunno, very curious if you agree or disagree with me.. that valid problems are valid problems regardless is someone somewhere else’s problems are or might be “worse” (in this specific case they are definitely worse) than the ones you are facing.

Answer

Yup. It’s not the Pain Olympics. 
My mom just died. She had cancer but it was still unexpected. It has rocked our world. So while it’s not a world issue, it’s still a huge thing to me, my dad, and my brother. Just because people are suffering in Ukraine doesn’t mean I can’t grieve my mom, right? 
And, tbh, if Canadians and Americans don’t stand up for our rights and freedoms now, we are going to end up like Ukraine anyway so….I’d rather see people pushing back than sitting down to “wait their turn” because something else is going down somewhere else. There will always be something else somewhere else.

Answer

I'm not playing the suffering Olympics.

Answer

Your problems are just as real as your privilege. Meaning that yeah, you can have your problems. But you also need to recognize your privilege.

Answer

All problems are best assessed subjectively.  There's no way to quantify suffering as part of a hierarchy.  The worst day of one person's life is going to be much better than some people's average days.  Much can be said about this on a sociopolitical level but more relevant to the average person is to keep this in mind with children.  
For an example, I've seen posts where people have talked about their "kids overreact" to small problems.  As an adult, being dumped after a two week long relationship isn't the end of the world, but to a young person in their first relationship, it is likely  the worst they've ever felt emotionally.  Compared to going through a divorce, their problem seems hardly worth considering but from a raw emotional response, both parties are at the limits of their emotional capacity for love related pain. 
This same logic can be applied to all individuals facing pain or hardship.  Regardless of an objective assessment, consider the individual's subjective experience.

Answer

Why is this happening. It’s Thursday. Dawn, is that you??

Answer

You’re allowed to live in your own reality and feel bad for what you’re going through…whatever it may be.

Answer

I definitely think it’s gotten a bit out of control as well. Tonnes of people kept quiet on their platforms during Canadians fighting for our rights and trying to show others the slippery slope we are on with our leadership as it is are now posting things like “Wow, so many **oppressed** Canadians need to check their privilege” and why not.. and even during would object and bring up other issues in the world “You’re protesting *this*, when you could be protesting *this*” and “I bet you weren’t here when *this* needed your support”. My response isn’t very thought out, kind of ran away with it hahah oops. But ultimately yes I think all reasonable problems are valid at all times, though it doesn’t hurt to read your audience/maintain big picture perspective and have compassion for others of course. ❤️ two (or more) things can be true at once.

Are everyone’s valid problems still valid if others elsewhere have it worse?

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