A moment on recognizing privilege
I was homeless as a kid, but I could have still had it worse.
I was seven years old, digging through a Denny’s dumpster and looking for anything remotely edible. My dad, high on meth, sat 10 feet away in a blue truck we also called “home.”
That’s a real experience I had, and it wasn’t an isolated one. If it wasn’t a Denny’s, it was a Taco Bell, or a grocery store. It was pretty common to find my dad and me digging through trash at any one of those spots looking for food. But regardless of the location, the reality was the same: I lived in a truck with my addict father.
It’s difficult to look at my childhood and conclude that there were any “privileges” whatsoever. But perhaps that isn’t the right word. Because it’s not about what features made my life easier; it’s about what factors didn’t make it more difficult. So, while I was a homeless kid, at least my white skin, for instance, wasn’t one of the factors making that experience worse.
Yes, I had a rough childhood characterized in part by homelessness. But there are things that would have made that experience tougher, and I’m grateful not to have to experience those.
Recognizing what “privileges” we have is important because it helps us have empathy and understanding for those whose lives are made more difficult than our own. I hope you can look into your own life and see what factors could have made things harder for you, had you experienced them.
Stay Reasonable!
David G. McAfee