It’s a beautiful thing to live in a society where our biggest grievance is parking.

Think about it.

Sure, it’s unfair and unfortunate that people who parked facing the wrong way in park & ride lots were issued $50 tickets.

Eventually the tickets were rescinded because the Calgary Parking Authority (CPA) realized they looked greedy and ridiculous.

You’ve probably already heard that Calgary is the most expensive place in Canada to park. A survey done earlier this year found that parking costs in Canada rose 9.94 per cent from June 2008 to June 2009. Dear Calgary leads the pack with a median daily parking rate of $22, and a monthly rate of $460. The survey put things in perspective somewhat by including international comparisons. In metro London the (median) monthly parking rate is $1175, in Hong Kong it’s $861 and in Amsterdam it’s $925.

Back in Calgary, the CPA has already written tens of thousands of tickets to commuters who stash their cars on private property while they go off to do their business.

Take a look at the glut of stories from the Calgary Herald that are just about rate cuts that happened earlier this week (they’re the ones that all say rate cuts).

And of course, we all have a friend who encountered some kind of error when they tried to buy a parking pass earlier this month. Server crashes, unfinished transactions and other mysterious goings-on plagued students who tried to purchase passes. And although disgruntled students were sated with S-10 passes, few people are pleased.

But my point is that it’s necessary to stop whining and think about the situation for a moment. We’re lucky to live in a country where one of the most vehemently talked-about stories for months is about how hard it is to find a place to put your really expensive and convenient gadget. Elsewhere in the world, the front page of the paper would be crowded with civilian deaths, gang warfare and AIDS deaths…if those affected countries had an uncensored media, anyway.

So, please, take a moment to be thankful for the problems you have…

You may now resume your disgruntled stance on parking.

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2. Fall parking passes sold out
3. On Campus: When to eat grass