Worldview

What is my worldview?

I am white. I am a male. I am rich. I am an American. My home is not broken. I went to a private school. I am a Christian. I have no disabilities.

Being white and male, the two most privileged characteristics that a human could have, I don't know any of the hardships that people with those characteristics have known. I don't know what it was like to be treated less than human by being forced to drink out of different water fountains or go to different schools because of my race. I don't know what it's like to have business people think I do an inferior job because of my gender. I don't know what it's like for people to be suspicious of me when I go through airports. I am on the top looking down, and only now am I realizing that everyone isn't up here with me.

Also, my family is fortunate. First, my parents are still together, and neither of them have any addictions that pervasively affect the family. My dad isn't an alcoholic, my mom doesn't do drugs. We are fine. So I can't relate to people who have to work a full time job to pay for their college because their parents can't or won't pay for it for whatever reason. Furthermore, my dad makes a substantial amount of money. I have always had anything I wanted, any toy or food or clothing item--whatever I desired was within reach. I think this is how passion is lost, being able to have anything. In the book "The Outsiders," a bunch of affluent, white kids make up the gang called the Socs. One Soc tells a rival-gang member that "we're always going and going and going, and never asking where. Did you ever hear of having more than you wanted? So that you couldn't want anything else and then started looking for something else to want? It seems like we're always searching for something to satisfy us, and never finding it." These kids have everything they could ever want, and even that is not enough to satisfy the longing in their hearts. It seems that you lose your desire to live while you pursue the panacea for your discontentment.

Other characteristics of my worldview are my American citizenship and Christian affiliation. Christianity is the religion that most Americans claim as their own, making it the most popular religion in America-- the U2 of religions, one could say. I have never been persecuted for my beliefs, never been rejected on account of my religion on any level. This makes me wonder if it is, then, real Christianity that I am a part of, but I digress.

Furthermore, I have no physical or mental disabilities. I don't have down syndrome or autism, I'm not deaf or blind, I don't even have allergies. I have never known the pain of routinely taking medicine or receiving treatment for a disease. I don't know the suffering that comes with wanting to be able to participate, but being prohibited by an unearned condition.

Suffice it to say, I am blessed. I am the most privileged type of person in the world. So what do I do now, in trying to bring about change, hope, and relief? Most people rise from within a suffering society and become a voice for their people. My people have virtually no suffering. So I believe I am called to find a group in need and learn from them, joining their suffering and making it my own. I'm not saying I'm going to gouge my eyes out or break both my legs. I'm saying I will learn to empathize with a group whose worldview is one of suffering, such as the deaf community or the homeless community. If I don't have suffering in my life, I must go and find some and give my peace to them in exchange for a bit of suffering.