I didn't really mean "I'm so hungry that I need a doctor." I just meant that compared to other days or people around me, "I'm (relatively) hungry."
One of my psychology professors last semester has lately been researching the related concept of shifting standards. In her book, Standards and Expectancies, she writes:
"It is almost a truism to say that life is relative--that our experiences and judgments of people, things, and events occur against the backdrop of some comparative standard or frame of refefence. My claims that 'I'm hungry' or 'my daughter is brilliant' or 'that haircut is ghastly' are all things made with reference to some standard... [S]uch statements imply more x (more brilliance) than others, and they are therefore inherently comparative" (Monica Biernat).
Am I poor? What about in comparison to each of these men?
When I say that a person is poor, what I really mean is that he is poorer than me or than the general population. But if the standard of poverty shifts in relation to Bill Gates, for instance, than suddenly I am just as poor as the next guy.
Jesus himself calls this out in the book of Revelation: "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked."
So what does all this mean? It levels the playing field a bit. Somehow, we're all now in the same needy boat--relative to God. As a needy man myself, the only answer is to look to the only One who is never needy: my Lord.
Suddenly, my cry becomes that of King David in Psalm 70:
come quickly to me, O God.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O LORD, do not delay.
I'm starving. We all are.
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