Privilege

The Biblical picture of God's unfolding reign is completed when the lamb and the lion lie safely together. I think that there is a reason for that remarkably unlikely situation. In order for the lamb to lie safely with the lion, the lion must make a conscious decision to refuse to eat the lamb. In fact, the lion must make a decision to serve as protector of and security for the lamb. Only when those who have the advantages put them to work for the sake of those without the advantages can the system work for previously disadvantaged. Only when the lion takes responsibility for the safety of the lamb can the two lie together.

Now, I am a middle class white male. As such, I am advantaged. I am privileged. In this culture, I have been granted privileges that have nothing to do with my merits, character or work ethic. This truth is painful to me. As much as I want to deny it, I have begun the race well ahead of those who were not fortunate enough to be so advantaged.

I had two parents who cared about my destiny. They pushed me, and worked with me, to become well educated. They expected me to be a good person, treating people fairly and helping those who needed my assistance. I grew up in a safe environment. I did not fear for my life, or the lives of my friends and family. There were plenty of guns where I was raised, but they were used for hunting and protection instead of violence against other persons. I was always seen as a person of potential. Teachers, community leaders, my parents, friends and extended family assumed about me that, should I simply work to nurture my potential, I could do important and meaningful things in life. I was trusted, given responsibility, celebrated when I did well and guided when I did poorly.

The privilege has continued into adulthood. I have the right to assume that I will be treated with respect and integrity in the process of community interaction. I anticipate that people will respect my property and help me to safeguard my neighborhood. I have the right to my own opinion, can vote, can sign petitions, own property, establish a credit rating, read and watch what I want and cheer for whatever sports teams I so choose. I can believe in whatever god I wish, or hold that there is no god whatsoever. I have made money, not a lot, mind you, but enough to provide my daughter with an excellent education and a good start to her young, married life.

Some of this has been due to my hard work. Much of it has not.When I weigh all that I have been given, due mainly to my position in the culture, my race, my gender, my native intelligence, even my relative height (I am 6'2"), I can see that much of my advantage has come through happy accident. I am aware of and thankful for those undeserved advantages. As much as I want to claim that those privileges were available to me because of my hard work, I fully own the fact that many of them were not. I am a person of relative privilege.

I do not feel guilty, however, for the advantages that I was granted. Instead, because I am partially aware of them and thankful for them, my privilege calls me to utilize the gifts that I have been given to serve those who have not been so richly privileged. Instead of complaining that I do not have more, bigger, better, newer, more influential or more powerful, I acknowledge that the best use of what I have is in improving other lives.

While I am no lion, my appreciation for the privilege that I have been granted is spent on the lambs that appear as opportunity around me. Or so I would like to claim. Admittedly, I am only learning what it means to live in relative privilege, and to work for the benefit of the lambs that surround us. I only hope that I can do better today what I learned better how to do yesterday.