It's all about me right?

Blog Post #1

Privilege. Privilege is an unearned access given to some. It is an advantage, an immunity, given to one societal group over another. It is invisible to those who have it and clear as mud to those who don't. 

Understanding me begins with what understanding privilege looks like. I grew up with two loving, happily married white, heterosexual parents. That was privilege. I went to private school and never payed for gas in my car that my parents bought me. Again, Privilege. I identify as a white, straight, educated, woman. While woman face disadvantages on many playing fields, having all the advantages stated above, my margin becomes smaller and smaller!

Privilege is important to acknowledge, but so are peoples stories. From that information you wouldn't know that my dad was a first generation college student who put himself through school with no help from his single mom. You wouldn't know that my mother's parents fought rural poverty in small town North Carolina until finally having enough money to send my grandmother to school, the first in her family to attend college. You wouldn't know that I was bullied relentlessly in high school because of the choices I made with my own body. You might not know that my aunt committed suicide when I was 13 and that same year I walked through a similar crisis with my best friend. 

I am privileged, but that doesn't make my perspective any less worthy of being heard. What it does do is equip me with responsibility. This is a responsibility to amplify the voices of others, the voices of those without my same privileges. 

I learned this from my parents and a wonderful old friend. Actually, that "old friend" was my ex-boyfriends mom. She was definitely the best thing to come out of the relationship. We pick up pieces of people as we travel along our own way. What do with all these pieces? 

For some it weighs us down, maybe your pieces leave you confused or even stagnant. For others, the pieces they hold could empower them, taking the pieces they have from others and either mending their own wounds or someone's. Some take their pieces and create art, they give the pieces a new life. 

I've decided that empowering others to use their pieces is one of my gifts. I thrive in leadership and the development of personal enrichment for others