By : ADITI KARANAM Grade 10 D
“All are equal but, some are more equal”
The act of perceiving each one as your equal is truly divine, but are we truly equal? During the ongoing Corona crisis, while we stayed safe in the warmth of our homes, the poor went in sardines to their hometowns with hope of a single meal.
We are ‘privileged’. This term has always intrigued me. What differentiates the ‘privileged’ from the ‘underprivileged’? It’s all a game of perception, what we look at and whom we compare ourselves with.
The whole world was struck with an unprecedented crisis. A crisis which locked everybody up, put the world in shackles and brought the world to a standstill. It affected everyone in many ways than one -financially, emotionally, socially.
Doctors, Policemen and healthcare workers are one of the most respectable professions of time. They braved all the odds to keep us safe. They went to work for us in a time when stepping out of our houses was deemed perilous. Should the opportunity to serve people be deemed as a privilege or the compulsion to brave the illness and lend a helping hand be deemed under-privilege?
The efforts of Media and its impact has been undermined for long. Detailed and repetitive reports and analysis was perceived as fear-mongering. Working tirelessly irrespective of the dearth of appreciation and harsh criticism is under-privilege, while the opportunity to keep working while thousands lost their jobs is indeed a privilege.
We students were handed a hall pass for the exams but were confined to our houses under the constant vigilance of family, away from friends. Skipping the annual summer vacation, most cherished epochs of childhood gave us the feel of being ‘underprivileged’.
When we think about privilege, we must understand that economic stability is not the only privilege.
To understand privilege, we must first clear the mist of misapprehension around it. By calling a person or ourselves privileged we do not vitiate the hardships or struggles gone through. We simply agree that they overcame the prying racism, nepotism and societal stereotypes which somehow creeps into lives and manages to ruin it.
PEACE
Life’s value is priceless they say yet thousands of widows, mothers and children mourn the death of their beloved ones who martyred themselves for a bellicose government with nothing but political interests.
Waking up every day without a fear of destruction or displacement is privilege.
Being in a world in which every voice, dream and life matter is a fantasy the privileged enjoy.
NEPOTISM
A concept gaining a lot of limelight. Some fight against it while some deny its mere existence. The fight against favouritism is tireless and eternal. The privileged aren’t oblivious to this fight. They are on the other side of it.
RACE / CASTE
Colour of the skin has somehow triumphed over the content the of the soul underneath. Innocent people who fall prey find themselves paying the price of the unatoned sins of the privileged.
The list of privileges goes on long.
The process of acknowledging our privilege is tough and while we critique ourselves and our struggles, we must be sure to not undermine them.
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