I Am Privileged

Am I aware of how privileged I really am?  I know that often I don’t think about it.  However, when I pay attention I notice:

• With all of the medical tests I’ve had recently, my insurance covers most of it.  What if I didn’t have insurance like many people in this country?  I guess I would try to live with the symptoms until things got so bad that I ended up in the ER.  But I have insurance.  I am privileged.

• There are people in my own community and around the world who go to bed hungry many nights.  They may not know where their next meal is coming from.  I have never gone to bed hungry.  I am privileged.

•  Foreclosures have increased in this country as our economy has soured.  More people are homeless, either living with relatives and friends or on the streets.  The situation is even worse in third world countries.  I own my home on an acre of land.  I am privileged.

• Many people cannot afford a car to go to the store, to work, to medical appointments, or anywhere else.  They must rely on public transportation, bicycles, or friends.  Or they walk.  My husband and I own multiple cars.  I am privileged.

• In some countries, education is not guaranteed for everyone.  This is especially true for girls.  In these places, few people graduate from high school.  In our own country it’s becoming more and more expensive to attend college, putting higher education out of reach for an increasing number of students.  I have a college degree from a good public university and I graduated without debt.  I am privileged.

• Racial discrimination has lessened in the U.S. but it has not gone away.  Years ago I worked with a black man who told me that he could not buy a house in the neighborhood next to mine because of his race.  There are laws against that now.  Racial discrimination is more subtle but it still exists.  A higher percentage of blacks live in poverty.  Our prisons house a disproportionate number of black inmates; they have difficulty getting good legal representation.  I am white.  I am privileged.

• Some of the lesbians I know are afraid to reveal who they really are to everybody.  They are afraid of hate, of discrimination in jobs, housing, child custody, and more.  They are afraid people will only see them as a gay person and not for the many other things that make them who they are.  I am straight.  I am privileged. 

I admit that I complain about being unemployed and how we struggle to pay our bills.  It’s easy to whine about our frustrations in life.  However, I have to admit that I am privileged.  If I am a good Christian, what does this mean?  I realize that I need to get out and work for justice in this world.  It is what Jesus would do.