More blessed and less fortunate

My intention is not to whine, but to change perspective and to illuminate what I view as a fallacy.  Have you ever heard someone make comments like, "If I'm ever feeling bad about myself or my 'trials'(trials will be another post), I just think that some people have it much worse than I do.  I just think of how blessed I am?"  Or this quote I recently saw on a g-chat status, that basically said, "If you're feeling bad about yourself, go serve those less fortunate." Most people won't find anything wrong with these comments, but I do.  I am almost immediately reminded of the scripture in Alma 31, when the people are climbing the rameuptum to be closer to God and basically thank Him for letting them be better than others.  How do you decide who is less fortunate than you?  What criteria must they meet to qualify for that status?  In addition, why is it that when someone expresses their gratitude, it is almost inevitable that they compare themselves with someone else and then comment on how blessed they are.  I don't object to people recognizing blessings in their lives, I just object to people who rate their blessings based on how bad other people have it.  It almost negates the expression of gratitude.  Isn't comparison the definition of pride?  C.S. Lewis said, "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only having more of it than the next man.  It is the comparison that makes you proud:  the pleasure of being above the rest."  

I don't want to be the victim of someone's good deeds.  It will be hard to take service for face value.  If someone is helping me, do they find me less fortunate?  On my mission I had a companion who for a few weeks had been particularly nice to me and I thought she was being thoughtful.  Later I discovered that she serves people she doesn't get along with.  She must have really not gotten along with me, because she was always finding things to do for me. I find that some things I consider to be fortunate are not considered to be fortunate by others.  The concept of competition (unless it's athletic, of course) gets tiring.  Just because someone has more money or better health, or a more stable family/job/life that doesn't mean that those without are less fortunate.  It's true they are probably struggling, but everyone has their own struggles and probably don't think of themselves as less fortunate.  Also, your "fortunes" are not equivalent to blessings.  If you have more than someone else of anything, that doesn't mean you have more blessing and the others have fewer.  

I think an experience I had a few days after being diagnosed with MS describes it best.  

A woman in my ward approached me at church and said, "I was having severe back pain and was completely incapacitated for 3 days, unable to get out of bed or take care of myself in any way.  But then I thought of you and how young you are and that there is a possibility that someday you could lose your ability to walk.  I realized that my back pain wasn't so bad and that I am so blessed.  I felt like I could do anything after that!"  You can imagine the excitement I had to share in this woman's good fortunes.  I guess it really is true, "Don't allow self-pity.  The moment this emotion strikes, do something nice for someone less fortunate than you." (Like express gratitude that you have it better than they do)