When I initially thought about what privilege meant to me I thought about all of the things in my life I am lucky to have. For example, life in general. We are so lucky to be alive on this earth and living in this great country, the United States of America. We have endless opportunities and are a very fortunate country. Most of the time we don't even realize the privileges and blessings we have and we tend to take stuff for granted.. after doing this blog and thinking about twenty privileges in not only my life, but the lives of others, it really made me realize how truly lucky I am.....
2. My friends!! I am privileged to have all different kinds of best friends, from all different races and backgrounds. I am lucky my friends are there for me whenever I need them.
3. My car broke down and I am privileged to have triple A so that they can come and help me when I need it. I drive an old car and it breaks down fairly often so I'm very lucky to have a service like triple A.
4. I have the privilege to buy clothes. Not just necessity items but items that I find fashionable and I want to have.
5. I have the privilege to own a cellphone. Imagine life without a cell phone.. it would be so hard to survive. This is an item we definitely take for granted but if you think it about it they are so important and helpful in our lives.
6. When I was stressed out about school I was able to call my mom and vent to her. I'm lucky she is always there for me to talk to.
7. I am privileged to get to go to college. Not everyone gets to go to a great university like OU, and I am lucky I got accepted into this University.
8. I am privileged I have lived a healthy life thus far and have had no medical problems.
9. Today while walking outside there was a really pretty sunset, I am fortunate to have the use of my eyes for vision. Not only my eyes but all of my senses. This is something we take for granted fairly often, and you don't realize how lucky you are until you see, hear, taste, smell, touch something that catches your attention.
10. While doing homework earlier I got stuck on a problem. I knew there was a girl on my hall who was in the same class so I went to ask for help, luckily she knew how to do it and explained the problem to me. As much as I dislike living in the dorms there are some benefits of dorm life; helpful floor mates is one of those benefits.
11. I went to the huff to workout today and realized how lucky I am that I have the use of my legs and arms.
12. Being able to read and write is an extreme privilege. Just imagine life without literacy.. it would be so much more difficult!
13. Being an adoptive child, I realize everyday how lucky I am that I got adopted into such a great and loving family. Every time I talk to a member of my family I am extremely thankful that I have them in my life.
14. Knowing how to drive and having a car is another privilege I have in my life. A lot of people learn how to drive but don't get the luxury of having their own car. I was lucky to get both of these.
15. I am lucky to have a place to live, even if it is the dorms, it's still a bed to sleep in and a roof over my head.
16. I am lucky to have gotten into a great sorority, Alpha Chi Omega. I have met a lot of my good friends through this group and it's a great way to get involved on campus.
17. In my personal opinion, as a nation we are extremely privileged to have President Barack Obama in office.
18. I am fortunate that both my parents and scholarships can pay for me to come to this university. If it wasn't for those two things I wouldn't be in college right now.
19. I am lucky my parents raised me with the values and beliefs I have. I have grown up always taught to be open minded and I think that has helped me out a lot in life.
20. I am also lucky to have a computer because without one I wouldn't be able to do a lot of my school work.. for example write this blog! I am lucky I can use my computer whenever I want.
After reading the McIntosh article which deals with privilege I realized there was a totally different way of looking at the the words meaning. After reading the list of 46 things, I realized how there really was a white privilege. This is something I had thought about before but never realized all of the reasons listed. After reading this hopefully it will help us to realize it is indeed there and it can be and needs to be stopped from continuing on in the future.
University of Oklahoma campus.. I am privileged to get to go to this school.
That was a well thought out post. I read through your entire list of twenty privileges and I enjoyed your commentary on each of them. However, I have go comment particularly on your number one. It is good to hear that you were fortunate enough to be paired with a roommate that you have gotten know, and get along good. I myself have heard so many stories of bad roommates. Let me elaborate. I have heard of roommates conducting in activities that most people would strongly feel are personal activities in front of their roommate. One story I heard that did have some humor behind it was from one of my friends that lives in Adams tower. She told me that her roommate for some reason got mad at her and through her stuff all over the room, and then covered her bed in cereal. The humors part to me was the cereal part.
ReplyDeleteI think that a lot of our privileges are very similar. Ones that I liked about yours were the ones about being able to call your mom. So many times we take our parents for granted I think. They are such a big support system and we sometimes just expect them to be there, but someday they won't so we need to make sure they know we care. That is something I have thought alot about recently.
ReplyDeleteWhile a privilege like a computer might seem like something that we overlook because most people have laptops in college or the privelege of being able to get to a computer quickly, but I recently lost my hard drive. I lost everything. All my pictures!! Documents, music. You don't realize how nice computers are until you loose them. Same with most priveleges....
Melisaa, I enjoyed reading your blog. I like the fact that you see what people take for granted as privileges. Your blog has made me notice the great amount of privilege I have in my own personal life. You see your privileges in every aspect of your daily life, the fact that you can use your hands and legs, have no medical problem, have a supporting and loving family, having a car , a personal computer.
ReplyDeleteI also feel happy to have Barrack Obama as the President of the United States of America. This indeeds sends a message out that with determination, hardwork and courage, one can achieve his or her dreams in life.
After I read Mclntosh article, where she stated the white priviledges she enjoyed i was astounded, indeed there is white priviledge. Also the Tim Wise's talk " The pathology of priviledge" also showed me the extend of white priviledge in housing, health and the police force. Finally our practical class exercise on priviledge was a real eye opener for me.
Your list of priviledes reminded me of how much God blesses my life on a daily basis.