I think I've been quite lucky in life. I'm privileged in that I'm a white, middle-class man who lives in the UK. Fortunately, I've also got parents who have brought me up in such a way that I realise how fortunate I am to lead the life I do. Unfortunately, not everyone realises just how lucky they are, so here's my take on what it means to be privileged and the consequences of that.
First of all, I'd like to point out that privilege doesn't mean that you don't work hard or that you don't face any difficulties yourself. Hopefully you guys will have seen in my most recent NEST post that I really do work hard to get the opportunities that I do, but it's not like it hasn't been easier for me to access those opportunities.
I'll just quickly try to highlight some privileges I have received, some of which people may not realise are privileges:
- My parents could afford to live in an area where I could access fantastic free schools and colleges, so that I would be educated to my highest potential. I've never lived in a flat with so much mould that I couldn't go to school. I could stop spending time earning money to start spending time focusing on revision - I wouldn't have to carry on working to get food on the table. When I needed to do resits, my parents paid for it and now I'm in my dream uni.
- I was able to fundraise money to go to Tanzania, I've been able to go travelling and have all these other wonderful experiences. When I had my crash, my mum was able to fly over to the hospital in Vietnam to give me support.
- I've been able to play guitar, use computers, read books, eat healthy food, all because my parents could afford it and all of which have developed me in different ways.
- I won't ever have to worry about a glass-ceiling or about being randomly stop and searched or about hiding my religion for a job application or about where I'm sleeping tonight or about whether my home will be bombed next.
There are a couple of really important things to realise here. First, that there is no such thing as a "self-made" person and we don't all have the same opportunities just because we live in a welfare state with free education and healthcare. The second is that sometimes, no matter how hard you work, you won't find the same success as someone else. I can practice every minute of every day and I will never be able to run a faster 100m than Usain Bolt did. Likewise, there are people who inherit millions and then just live off the interest, never having to work a day in their life. You can't just put millions of poverty-stricken people down as lazy and you can't just say that everyone at the top "deserves" to be there.
I'd like to finish this whole thing off by saying that I wish I wasn't privileged. Don't get me wrong, I definitely want to do all the things I have done and keep doing them, plus some new things. The difference is that I want my privilege to become the new norm. I guess that's probably one of the many reasons why I do so much work for NEST and why I am a liberal leftie; I want policies and institutions in place that give everyone a good standard of living.
I want to "see the world - and do some good too." Come join me.
Happy voluntravelling,
The Voluntraveller