RIP "Privilege"

The Death of Resentments

I love the idea of Thanksgiving. A day wherein every American reflects on that for which they’re grateful . There’s no commerce attached to the holiday, except turkey sales. It’s just a day to recall what you’re grateful about.

This is a good day to tell you that the term “privileged” is over. For about ten years now, this term has been used as a weapon against others. That’s over now. This characterization of someone as “coming from a place of privilege“ or the accusation of “a privileged way of thinking” is nothing more than expressions of resentment, and a distraction from the gifts the accuser has themselves.

I don’t care who you are, there is some way that you are better off than someone else. I don’t care what your situation is, you are right now blessed with something. Maybe you have both legs, maybe you have your sight, maybe you have a place to live, maybe you simply woke up today, maybe you have a couple of days of sobriety, maybe you got to do something nice for someone, maybe you made the rent this month when you didn’t think you would, maybe you saw a pretty flower today, maybe a worst case scenario this year didn’t turn out so bad, and maybe little surprises happened this year that you absolutely did not expect. You have got something you can be happy about. You have something that you can be grateful for.

Everybody is born with a basket of skills and talents and opportunities. No one else gets your particular basket. You have talent and skills and opportunities in your basket that other people don’t have. And other people have skills and talents and opportunities their basket that you don’t have. Be grateful for what you’ve got. No one else has one like yours.

Everybody has obstacles, everybody has challenges. No one gets to go through life without them. It’s just not possible. Looking at someone else’s life and assuming they somehow escaped this, is a trick to distract you from the avenues that are open to you in your own life. Every person in the history of the world was dropped into their body, and their time, with no input whatsoever. You got a body, a vehicle, a bag for your soul and spirit when you were dropped into whatever era you were born, and you get to deal with it. And all those skills and talents and opportunities in your basket do not care at all the color of your skin, your gender, your height, your weight, your age, or the state of your face or hair. Those skills and talents are irrevocable, and those opportunities don’t know how to NOT keep coming your way. So, don’t let something like resentments cloud the view of your own basket.

If you’re looking for someone to hate, someone to be resentful of, start hating your own resentments of other people. Because I will tell you a truth; resentment will kill you from the inside, utterly. That is your enemy. And if you don’t like your situation, tell God about it. I’m not saying this flippantly. I’m serious. Tell Him you are unhappy. Tell Him exactly why you are unhappy. Give Him the list, and the two of you can set about changing that situation. But resenting other people, and calling them “privileged“ is a one-way ticket to not only destroying yourself inside, but getting nowhere close to where you want to be in life.

Those resentments are blocking your path. Get rid of them.