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Nov. 2nd, 2017
I recently had occasion to bang my shin on my own privilege.
Background: all my life I have found it difficult to find work, and when I did find it, it didn't pay phenomenally well. It took decades for me to a find a place of reasonable financial security, and that only came with a partner with her own income to supplement mine. I am not living high on the hog and never have done so. Therefore, I could see myself being one of those straight white males who complains that those three statuses never did boo for getting me a leg up in life -- if I so chose to complain.
The other day, I was gabbing with someone who was telling me how they grew up in a small town of barely more than a thousand people. As I've gotten older, big cities appeal to me less, so I said something along the lines of how that sounds nice and I might like it. The town I live in now is not super big, and sometimes I do think it would be pleasant to move to an even smaller one.
Then they went on to tell me how their family were the only Jews in that small town, and how their home suffered anti-Semitic vandalism and violence, and they moved to a big city where it was more "diverse". And suddenly it hit me that, when I was fantasizing about living in a small town, I never for a split-second wondered about how I would be treated if I chose to move there. I just took it for granted that I would be treated reasonably okay wherever I go. And I realized that I have always taken that for granted.
Bingo: privilege.
And I clearly saw that, just because you aren't privileged in every area of your life, doesn't mean that you aren't at all.
Colour me humbled.
Background: all my life I have found it difficult to find work, and when I did find it, it didn't pay phenomenally well. It took decades for me to a find a place of reasonable financial security, and that only came with a partner with her own income to supplement mine. I am not living high on the hog and never have done so. Therefore, I could see myself being one of those straight white males who complains that those three statuses never did boo for getting me a leg up in life -- if I so chose to complain.
The other day, I was gabbing with someone who was telling me how they grew up in a small town of barely more than a thousand people. As I've gotten older, big cities appeal to me less, so I said something along the lines of how that sounds nice and I might like it. The town I live in now is not super big, and sometimes I do think it would be pleasant to move to an even smaller one.
Then they went on to tell me how their family were the only Jews in that small town, and how their home suffered anti-Semitic vandalism and violence, and they moved to a big city where it was more "diverse". And suddenly it hit me that, when I was fantasizing about living in a small town, I never for a split-second wondered about how I would be treated if I chose to move there. I just took it for granted that I would be treated reasonably okay wherever I go. And I realized that I have always taken that for granted.
Bingo: privilege.
And I clearly saw that, just because you aren't privileged in every area of your life, doesn't mean that you aren't at all.
Colour me humbled.
