Privilege As It Applies in American Society

The video here has been around for several years, and provides a metaphorical look at the concept of privilege.

In this regard, we all have our own stories to tell.  Here’s mine:

I was adopted by two sane and productive white people who sacrificed greatly to put my brother and me through private school, college and grad school.  First and most obviously, because I was an unwanted pregnancy, I could have been aborted, and I’ll never know why I wasn’t.

But more to the point, I could have just as easily been adopted by people who simply didn’t value education, or honesty, or any of the other virtues that surrounded me as a child.

My aging mother knows that she’s not going to be around forever, and so our conversations tend to become more philosophical and personal as time passes.  Recently I brought up this topic, i.e., my profound luck, and she said, “Oh Craig, you would have shone in any circumstances.

I had to smile.  This is what mothers do.  They find reasons to stay behind their children in all cases, even where, in fact, there are no facts to support what they’re saying.  To mothers everywhere!