Privilege Most White Americans Enjoy

 

By Rev. Amari Magdalena

I was thinking about this when I awoke today. I’ve fallen below middle class economically and yet my life, in comparison, with so many in the U.S. and everywhere is luxurious. When I awakened and sat for a few moments on the bed, I was sitting on a high-end mattress designed to give full body support and sleeping on a pillow with similar properties.

Getting out of bed, I wandered into the bathroom and sat on a toilet with an upgraded toilet seat, running water, and excrement swished down the pipes.  I did not have to wander outside in heat or cold to go to the bathroom that even with chemicals, stunk and was NOT environmentally controlled.

I washed my face with warm water from my plumbed in sink and did my morning routine with upscale soap and toweled dry with soft fabric towels. Grabbed the morning medications and vitamins and wandered into the kitchen where I have a stove, oven, microwave, garbage disposal, fan, lights etc.  Opened the refrigerator to see what I fancied for breakfast.  Had no gnawing hunger that would go unsated. Ate designer yogurt, drank designer coffee, and nibbled on a few designer crackers.

Then I wandered into my closet to choose from a slew of clothing possibilities, that I deem needing replacement because some are showing wear and picked from the many choices clothing suitable for the season and weather forecast. Didn’t get to choose pretty shoes, woe is me, as I had to wear my designer tennis shoes with the Richie brace to help my ankle. Pulled on the compression socks while bemoaning, for a minute, just how unfashionable they were rather than saying thank heavens I have the correct attire for the body I live in. Oh, and I forgot that I put on my designer (some by me) jewelry to accent my outfit.

Drove my designer Hybrid Prius with its 50 miles per hour gas consumption to downtown Las Cruces to attend services in a properly masked congregation and separated for COVID-19 exposure room.  Was able to make a donation and enjoyed a great service replete with music, meditation, and stimulating address. Drove home in the same designer car.

The temperatures were rising as I drove, and my little designer car’s air conditioning easily kept the car’s interior very comfortable. I got out of my car and endured (😊) less than a minute of 90-degree temperatures, stepping into my air-conditioned apartment at a very comfortable 78 degrees.  Poured myself a glass of filtered water from my designer filtering pitcher and relaxed into the afternoon.

Was hungry when I arrived home nearing 1 pm and noshed on chips, salsa, and crackers-designer of course!  Then sat at my designer, top of the line, computer with my designer orthopedic chair, and desk at appropriate ergonomic height to spend time answering emails, texts (from my designer two phones), and contemplating doing some work (remote work).

And here I am making a point of our collective frame of reference that begs new understanding and labeling.  Even at this point in my life, I see all the entitlement and privilege that even on what is now considered poverty living, I am comfortable beyond half of the world’s imagining.

No crazed religious zealots are taking over my country and mouthing promises never to be kept while frightened citizenry literally run for their lives to a possible chance of freedom. The air in my city is not filled with smoke from engaged weapons of destruction used to keep people in fear. Troops are not marching down my street breaking into homes and taking people into custody. I am not asked to wear hot, uncomfortable clothing that annihilates my identify and robs me of long fought for equitable freedoms and whose adherence to, will be necessary if I am to live.

Too many voices today ask what our country can do for them, not what they can do for our country. Assumptions of entitlement run rampart along with privilege. We have SO much here, isn’t it a bit past time to begin a regimen of gratitude and thankfulness for the bounty most of us enjoy even with reduced income?

Yes, I work hard as I approach my eighties and some of it is very stressful taking a toll on my health.  Yes, I have a lot of health issues now.  Yes, I have debts to be concerned about too often.  Yes, I made the choice to work so that I could afford to live a tad more comfortably. Yes, I made choices that have created the me of now and who cares!

I recognized this day just how very privileged I am and as I look about, and say Thank You! I hope more and more of us will wake up to the lives we lead that are so far above real need that it is ridiculous. And even more importantly, have us recognize the real obligation for giving back from our abundance each in our own way. In other words, sharing our world in ways that may ultimately lift the lives of others vs. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous-or not, just too rich not to recognize the need to share from our excess.

“I was not born with a silver spoon, but an old rusty steel spoon bent all out of shape. Over the year's I made that old spoon straight again. I polished that spoon so hard, now my spoon shines just as if it were made of newly minted silver...!”
― Craig Langstaff

“When I think about creating abundance, it's not about creating a life of luxury for everybody on this planet; it's about creating a life of possibility. It is about taking that which was scarce and making it abundant.” ―Peter Diamandis