Privilege: Unacknowledged

a poem

I just need to finally acknowledge that I’m tired of being in conversations where privilege is gone unacknowledged because it evokes feelings of shame in me of not having been enough to have had the privilege to do the same things and have them produce the same effect sans the base boost,

and be told that the lack of result is my own laziness, or lack of skill, or lack of mindset, and that if I point out a reason outside of myself that I am merely self-victimizing

because while I think the cause is environmental, you, ignorant to what facilitates your success can’t see outside of your own perspective, so you must attribute anything that falls short of what happened to you as failure.

#WritingPrompt: privilege.

Inviting Rebecca Herz | Emily Wilcox | Carolyn Hastings | Misty Rae | Tatum Hamernik | Krupesh Raikar | Imad | Jen Kleinknecht | Elle How| Jimmy Misner Jr. | if you’re up to it and anyone else interested to smash that writer’s block, join in on this tiny challenge and write a response, wherever it takes you! It can be a tiny poem, a shortform piece or an essay — whatever comes into that brain noodle!

Hi I’m Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) and labelling that has been helpful. This shame that I hold, it’s not mine to hold. Shame exists to highlight how we might be able to connect better to others by imposing “should” rules. Sometimes, those rules are necessary and those “shoulds”, keep us safe. This pandemic has illustrated that for me the clearest, where shame (and on the flip side, empathy) has helped me make the choices that keep everyone safe. Shame highlights where I’ve done wrong and may have hurt someone; empathy is the ability to look forward before it happens (or reflect after it happens) and learn from the experience. Yet, when rules are applied and they don’t make any sense, or in fact, rules are inappropriately imposed to uphold privilege and shame those in oppressed situations — that’s not my shame to hold. PS, I published a book of tiny poems!

^ by Diana C.