The term privilege has taken on a heavy weight in recent years as those of us who have had it begin to realize just how much of a difference it makes to those who don't. In a recent air travel escapade the word came to linger with me and become a part of my spirituality. Every now and then the mundane thoughts of my meandering mind somehow take on an existence in the holy.
The short version of my air travel story is that a planeload of people disembarked in an unintended destination and were forced to wait many hours before they could be reunited with their loved ones in the scheduled airport. As humans are prone to do, they look outside the box for solutions to problems and those with resources have a wider selection of tools from which to draw. During the extended layover, several people chose to find their own transportation back home. It was only as we re-entered the plane that we came to realize that those who accessed another option out were all those in first class; all those with privilege. Personally, this thought landed with a thud as Uber-ing out had definitely been a thought that crossed my mind. But I chose patience and trust in place of executing my personal will on a problem that already had a solution. This was definitely a moment of growth for me.
At times, thoughts like this stick around because I start seeing them lived out in many different avenues of life. A few days later I was involved in a conversation about public education where the parent suggested that children of resourced (synonym for privileged) families are able to achieve success by being placed in accelerated or advance placement classes and hence avoid being placed in general population groupings. I immediately began thinking about all the euphemisms we have for privileged and resourced and the ways they/we have of negotiating the systems so the haves continue to be the haves and the have nots are left on the edges of society and economic growth. As I continued to ponder this academic view of privilege I remembered by strong stance just last spring on limiting the incoming class size at Nativity school and suddenly the voice of privilege was my own. I, too was playing a role in keeping out the "general population."
As the word privilege evolved in my thoughts and transformed into resource, I indeed saw it everywhere. Although I am a renter, I live in a fairly upscale part of town so it wasn't hard to locate. The simple act of meeting a friend at our local rose garden was an exercise in seeing it played out. When you think nothing of meeting in a place where other people who come, take selfies, you are living in the midst of privilege, resource, and an amazing gift of Creation. Gradually, I was led to removing the labels and seeing all of this at God's gifts. We are the recipients and it is up to each of us to determine how to use these gifts and share them with others. I am deeply aware that my gifts have made it possible for me to retire, to donate money and goods, and to fly across the country to visit my family. I am a person of privilege, the receiver of a generous God who gives lavish gifts. I give thanks for this each day and continue to call myself to the mirror and ask what I am doing to share these resources of first class seats with those in coach on our metaphorical plane of life.
