It’s My Privilege

Last updated on: May 9, 2013 at 6:09 am by Faithful Democrats

It’s My Privilege 2013-05-09T06:09:26-06:00 Faithful Democrats

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Elizabeth over at Faithfully Liberal has posed a challenge: can we articulate the ways in which we’re privileged? It seems a worthy question for Christians to explore, given Scripture’s frequent calls to use the talents we have to help those less fortunate than we are.

So, following Elizabeth’s lead, I’d like to pose the same challenge to you folks, at least as something to think about.

Here are a few ways in which I’ve been privileged. Both my parents were doctors, which meant I grew up in a posh, safe neighborhood of a great town with an excellent school system. My life was inundated with positive role models. I had connections to successful people — lawyers, businessmen, professors, etc. And because my family had money — not Hilton money, but significantly more than the average person — I got to attend an expensive liberal arts college without incurring a dime of debt.

I am white. I am male. I am American. I have intelligence and talents that I did nothing to earn.

In short, circumstances beyond my control have allowed me to become, essentially, whatever I’ve wanted to be. I’ve had to work hard, of course. But the privilege I had growing up gave me a pretty good head start.

Here’s another wrinkle: the government had something to do with my privilege. My father’s father, now a retired eye doctor, came from a poor family but attended public schools and went to college on the GI Bill. He then made a great living treating Medicare patients. That, in turn, gave my dad the privilege to become a doctor himself.

Indeed, the benefits (and resulting privilege) of progressive government actions are pervasive in our society. When I get sick, the medicines I take were likely developed at least partly as a result of government-funded research. When I eat, I rest assured that the food is safe because of government regulations. I enjoy worker protections that the labor movement instigated and the government codified. I can go swimming in Lake Michigan because of environmental laws. I rely on public transportation to get most places — and my friends who don’t are still reliant (as I am) on federally-funded highways and locally-funded streets. I can speak and worship freely because I live in a country with a bill of rights. And on and on and on.

Many countries don’t have these benefits. Ours does. So yes, I’m privileged, as I believe most of us reading this are, in one form or another. In my view, there is no such thing as a self-made man.

Still, I don’t think we should feel guilty about it. A more rational and moral response would be simply to heed the words of Luke 12:48: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

So, like the folks at Faithfully Liberal, I’m wondering: how have you been privileged?

Jesse welcomes comments at jesse [at] faithfuldemocrats.com

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