Browsing the internet recently I came across an excellent article about the things rich people need to stop saying. Whilst it is perfectly summed up, it misses one point. Being rich is a privilege which makes life easier to live, one that people don't notice while they are living it. But life is full of those. When I was at school, my teachers of a religious bent expressed this as counting my blessings, and it is a shame that it has caught up in that particular world, because even as atheists it is something I feel we need to remind ourselves about from time to time.
It is expressed by some as privilege, which I think sounds accusatory. Most of these things you can't help, and whilst we may be envious of others, I wouldn't wish for most of them to be taken away from those with them. Just maybe that we work to do our best to confer them on those without. None of them are absolutes, either, so we need to recognise whatever we have of them. Indeed, many are fatal at the zero level. So, in no particular order, here are my blessings:
Health
I'm writing this watching an athletics championships on the TV (yes, I know that's a sport, get over it).All of the people on this have much better health than I do. Sure, I'm an asthmatic, and running to my car recently left me speechless for several minutes, rather pathetically. But, as far as I know, I don't have any fatal diseases, have decent nutrition, plenty of water, feel well and fit enough to get about and do all of the things I need in a day. The main things that are wrong with me I could solve by putting in a little more effort, doing more exercise and eating foods I don't enjoy so much. I have friends waiting for operations, or suffering with ongoing conditions. I have nothing like that hanging over me as of this moment.
Ability
On the subject of health, I was born with two arms and two legs, a brain that mostly works to move my body in the right way, enough strength for the things I need and want to do every day. I can negotiate stairs, have a house that I can live in without special modification. I can see, and hear, and feel, and smell and taste without any handicap. Sure, I'm dyslexic and dyspraxic, and was born with a (long since fixed) club foot, but on the scale of disabilities I could have these are barely anything. I'm not disfigured, indeed I have been told, almost uniquely, on separate occasions, that I am handsome and beautiful, which in my mind cancels each other out, but that's a product of my situation. Which is a mental disability of a sort, but there are far worse ones. I don't have voices in my head, or shout things out, or problems understanding my fellow man.
Wealth
Now, I'm no Bill gates or Donald Trump, but I'm not really poor either. I'm sure there are people in my kind of situation that do consider themselves poor, and many people with more money than I do that would consider themselves poor in my situation, but I'm aware it could be so much worse. I live in my own house, I have a car, I have electricity, water, somewhere to sit, somewhere to sleep, clothes, and so on. I don't have to share any of these things with anyone. I see people who moan about giving money to those abroad when there are still people at home without, but generally what they mean is that people abroad have no food while we have no decent trainers. My biggest food decision is not where my next meal is coming from, but what of all the million choices available to me I wish to eat.
I'm also privileged to be living in a western country with roads, and a national health service to look after me, and a police force to protect me, and an army to defend that country, and so on. That may not be part of my personal wealth, but it is something I still get to take advantage of.
Social
On the subject of eating, in a little while I will message a friend to meet up for lunch. Tomorrow I will go to work, and talk to people there, as well as customers over the phone. My facebook racks up invites to events on a daily basis, most of which I decline for lack of time or interest. I live in a city, with groups who share my interests a short journey away meeting most days of the week. My facebook, which unlike some I largely restrict to people I actually know and like, but which by no means contains everyone I know, has racked up on it some 120 friends, close to the limit that people can reasonably actually have friendships with.
Not so long ago, I was agaraphobic, had lost contact with almost everyone I had ever known, shut in 24 hours a day. Even then, through the web, I had contact with real human beings across the world, I had books, and films, and TV, and radio, to keep me in contact with humanity. None of these things apply everywhere. Some places people are absolutely, utterly alone. I see people on the web complaining how alone they are, unaware of the irony in doing so. Sure, you are alone. But it could be so much worse.
Love and Sex
A more acute and focussed form of sociality, the human need for love is strong, and you might think, single as I am, I had more grounds for complaint here than anywhere else. The love of my life is gone, with no-one on the horizon to replace them, and I haven't gotten laid in an age. But as the saying goes, it is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. I have been in two long term relationships, both of which were, for a time, worth a century of loneliness. I can picture those and cherish the good memories whenever I want. And if I really wanted it, I know I could be with someone in a matter of hours. My choice to have sex is just that, a choice, for I know that I am blessed with enough attractiveness that I don't have any trouble attracting a partner.It is just that, for the moment, I do not want any partner that would want me as I know am. Once this awkward transition is complete and I feel more myself, then I will open that door again, but right now in that department I am content alone. There are those who feel unable to make a connection with anyone, ever, and I can remember an age when I thought that of myself. But I've lost count of the number of people I've slept with over the years, so it would be churlish to complain of their lack right now.
Nationality and Race
An odd one, this. Wasn't sure what heading to put it under, but this will do. I feel embarrassed even to mention it, as it seems so unimportant to me, but I suspect it feels unimportant because of my privilege. I am white in a country, and indeed a world, that seems to value being white above all else. That thought makes me feel a little sick, and makes the bile rise in my throat. I refuse to value it, I refuse to be thankful for it, because that validates the opinion that it is in some way better. But to deny the fact that it has made my life easier is to be blinkered and foolish.
Freedom
I am allowed to write these words, because of the social agreement of the country that I live in, that I can express my opinions. I can say that all religion is bullshit, that socialism is a fantasy, that capitalism is amoral, that our leaders are selfish and stupid, all without fear of being woken at three in the morning by a firing squad, or being carted off to a concentration camp. Sure, my freedom isn't perfect. I can't, for instance, roll out of bed naked on a sunny morning and pop round to the local shop before getting dressed, because we have this odd taboo about nudity, with people wearing ever tinier patches of clothing to cover them up from revealing this nipple or that pudenda, to prevent them from being obscene. But on the scale of things, it's pretty small. And sure, if I had better wealth, then I could buy more freedoms with it, ones that I can't even think that I might need right now. But it could be so, so much worse.
Gender
Ah. Well, I'm sure you think this is where I'm about to point out I have a total lack of privilege. But, again, it could be worse. Sure, because I was born with a penis I have certain expectations of me that I was never comfortable with. Worldwide, we stick people in boxes based on what happens to have been between their legs when they were born. I happen to exhibit all of the characteristics of, and therefore identify with, the opposite sex, so we say my gender does not match. But the whole concept of gender is a social construct, and whilst I have tried to step outside of that and deny my identity in the past, I've finally come around to the fact that it would be easier if I just stop trying, and change my sex to match the gender I cannot change. There are plenty of people for whom the difference isn't so extreme, that batter at the walls of the one restriction that blights their lives, banging their head on the glass ceiling that keeps all of us down in fields that do not allow for our particular gender.
But it could be worse. I could have been forced into an army where I would, potentially, have been bullied to death. I could have felt so powerless and unable to change, so physically distant from how I wanted to be, that I killed myself rather than live this way; I am at least androgynous enough that I can live with however this comes out. I am at least in a society that largely accepts my transition, and imposes legal penalties on those that try to block it. I am at least in a country that gives medical assistance to those that need to change their sex without huge expenditure.
Did I miss anything?
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