I’m a white female.
I notice cultural differences and behaviour between people, but I love to find the common thread among us. The part that speaks to our collective humanity.
Because I was never a racist and saw all people as equals to me I was missing a piece of my personal puzzle.
I felt trapped at times.
Lots of the time I felt like a victim.
I didn’t know how to change my life, or my status, or my paradigm until one day it dawned on me how lucky I truly am.
I’m not a white male and I don’t get paid equal to what a white man would be paid.
But I’m a white female.
I personally didn’t see that as special or advantageous and I don’t look down on minority groups, but that doesn’t negate their struggle to be recognized as equal.
The part in this big picture I was missing is that I need to be exceptionally grateful for my privilege.
I’m privileged simply by being born white, and I’m privileged by being born into and living in Canada and I am privileged in a million other ways.
If we don’t own our privileges and make the most of them, we are being spoiled and irresponsible with the gift we have been given.
I had never thought about it that way before.
We are not trapped, we are not the victims. We don’t even know what that feels like.
As privileged people, we are so lucky. We can do anything we choose to do, we just have to decide to do it.