The Magic of Privilege

Someone shared an amazing video on Facebook the other day. It's about four minutes long. It's a visual demonstration of the role that privilege plays in all of our lives.

During our years together this is a topic Dave and I have frequently analyzed. The role that "luck" played in getting us to where we are. How lucky we were to have been born to the parents we called Mom and Dad. How fortuate we were that we attended good public schools. How lucky that we both had growing-up friends that were basically "good kids" and the fact that we were able to go on to college. Yes, Dave graduated with a student loan, but it wasn't crippling and we got it paid off within the required time frame.

Dave's career opportunities "presented" themselves because of timing, luck and the fact that he was working hard and was very well respected in his field. I was lucky that he was able to support our family so I could be a full-time wife and mother until our children were a little older. We were so lucky to be able to purchase the homes we wanted, to send our kids to good schools, to enjoy the company of nice neighbors and make good friends no matter where we lived. When I went to work I was fortuate enough to sell real estate in a "good market" and earn enough that our son and daughter both graduated from college loan-less.

The list just goes on and on. And it all started with one sperm meeting one egg back in Chicago in 1946 and the same thing happening with another couple in New England. And the odds of the two of us ending up as classmates in a small private college in mid-Wisconsin. Luck.

The video demonstrates just how huge the role "privilege" plays in our lives. A small group of people gather, stand in a line and hold hands. The off-camera moderator asks a series of questions. In order to answer participants take one step forward or backward or stay in place. As the group silently responds to the questions the line begins to break apart….arms stretch until hands can no longer reach. And at the end of the video it is apparent that there is a wide disparity in what these young adults remember in answer to the questions about their lives.

As one young woman said in the introduction, "Some people walk miles for water….I turn on a faucet. That is privilege." Another participant who spoke at the end of the exercise stated that it became obvious to him just how big a role privilege plays and, recognizing the distance between him and some of the other players, he felt it was obvious that "no amount of hard work or legislation can make up that gap."

Priviledge. Something many of us take for granted. Something many of us no longer recognize.

Go to YouTube - search Buzz Feed What is Privilege.

Watch the video.