Ever been talking to someone and thought to yourself, “This dude is a complete dipstick.” or, “Why are they always doing -whatever- wrong?” I know I have, and I’m sure I’ve been the “dude” or the “they” that someone else was referring to after a frustrating exchange with me. It takes a tremendous amount of privilege to look down at someone’s ignorance… and yet, academics do it all the time. Maybe you’ve been trying to fix something with the mechanically inept and said to yourself, “It’s a freakin’ screwdriver, brainiac… its uses are limited. Lefty-loosey, righty-tighty.” Again, it takes a tremendous amount of privilege to look down at someone’s ignorance… and yet, tradespeople do it all the time. Privilege isn’t about money, or success, or anything other than advantages in certain situations… whether we’ve worked to acquire those advantages, or they came free with our being born who and where we are.
It’s our duty to utilize our own privilege to lift up those without the same privileges, help them awaken and evolve, and to use our power to change the systems that created the privilege-imbalance in the first place. It’s our duty, as people who are trying to live with Virtue, to be understanding and patient with others, with those who didn’t have our advantages or exposure, education, or training, and with those who are ignorant to the nuances of life that we often take for granted.
Holiday offers that, “The more forgiving and tolerant you can be of others - the more you can be aware of your various privileges and advantages - the more helpful and patient you will be.” (The Daily Stoic, 225)
Once we’re able to stop overidentifying with our individualized victim-identities, we can become agents of growth and change for the world around us. The individual bee doesn’t matter as much as the hive… and what’s better, the individual bee knows this fact to be true.
Sadly, we haven’t figured out that truth yet.
(See y’all tomorrow)
It’s our duty to utilize our own privilege to lift up those without the same privileges, help them awaken and evolve, and to use our power to change the systems that created the privilege-imbalance in the first place. It’s our duty, as people who are trying to live with Virtue, to be understanding and patient with others, with those who didn’t have our advantages or exposure, education, or training, and with those who are ignorant to the nuances of life that we often take for granted.
Holiday offers that, “The more forgiving and tolerant you can be of others - the more you can be aware of your various privileges and advantages - the more helpful and patient you will be.” (The Daily Stoic, 225)
Once we’re able to stop overidentifying with our individualized victim-identities, we can become agents of growth and change for the world around us. The individual bee doesn’t matter as much as the hive… and what’s better, the individual bee knows this fact to be true.
Sadly, we haven’t figured out that truth yet.
(See y’all tomorrow)
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