'PRIVILEGE’ in the age of COVID – 070220

Title got your attention?  PRIVILEGE...It’s a buzzword these days, isn’t it?  White privilege, male privilege, Light Skin Privilege, Cis privilege.  What about the privilege of being able to 'take a position' on an issue that will impact you in ways far less devastating than it will others?

This is not going to be a ‘popular’ blog.  Many of you are not going to ‘like’ what I have to say.  That’s ok though.  Because I am speaking for the many, many others out there who, given the current socio-political climate and “mob-rule” dynamic that appears to be gaining momentum, are AFRAID to speak out.  They are afraid of this increasingly polarized society, where, if you DARE express an opinion that runs counter to the current dominating narrative, you are blacklisted as “selfish.”  They are AFRAID of  impacting their relationships with their family, friends and larger communities. They are afraid of speaking their TRUTH for fear of being being shunned into an increasingly isolated existence.  Humans are social creatures.  One of the worst punishments imaginable is to be isolated from other human beings.  This is why we throw prisoners into solitary confinement: it breaks their spirit.  Well my friends, I, too am afraid.  I too have fear.  I  have fear about being judged, about being blacklisted, about being condemned by “the mob” for holding an opinion that is DIFFERENT.   But I have decided that this FEAR will not prevent me from speaking out - hell, nowadays, i spend most of my time ALONE (far before Covid required it) so I can afford to lose a few “wayward” friends. And, since I have lived my entire life being DIFFERENT (othered, not the same...bi-racial...) perhaps I have been “in-training” for this very moment all my life!  (Glass half-full, ppl...glass half-full.) 

The last 15 years of my life have included a great deal of INNER WORK.  Those of you who know me will know this to be a true statement.  Part of this work has manifested into some deep convictions about how i choose to walk through this life.  One of the more important convictions is to stay in alignment with my authentic self, and this is only possible if I speak my truth...even if my 'voice shakes."  For it is only in staying aligned with my authentic self, my "higher self" that I can, as a global citizen of this world, do my part to usher in what I believe to be a “paradigm shift.” And i believe that this paradigm shift has the potential to re-create this world in a way that allows human beings to THRIVE, and not just SURVIVE.  But we must stay aligned. 

Let me be very clear here: it is not my intention in this blog to question the legitimacy of this ongoing stay at home order.  Nor is it my intention to get into any sort of debate about the myriad of other "hot-button" issues surrounding COVID - social distancing, masks, vaccinations, etc.  My intention with this blog is to question the "moral high ground" some of you are standing on by espousing a position on this stay at home order that is different from the position of others.  Perhaps it’s not a "moral high ground" that you hold – perhaps its PRIVILEGE.  Because for some, for MANY, this quarantine is threatening their very ability to survive.  Like, it's doing that RIGHT NOW.  Not days from now...not months from now.  NOW.  

The other day, a good friend of mine started a thread on Facebook about what folks were doing about haircuts during COVID: do you go without?  Learn how to cut your own hair?  Get the “clandestine cut?”  At the end of her post she asked “… and how are hairdressers surviving right now when they are the last to open and can't do anything online?”  Well:  they are breaking the law...when and where they can.  They are committing CRIMES when they find clients who are willing to commit crimes WITH them...no doubt some of their criminal co-horts are the same ppl who are shouting how selfish other ppl are by insisting to go back to work.  Fact: people will break bad laws when their survival depends upon it.  This is how you know its a "bad law": when it inhibits another human being from their pursuit of LIFE.  I know that I would do the same thing if it meant feeding myself or my child.  I would do it, whether i was shamed, ridiculed, despised.  Because LIFE. 

So for those of you who continue to insist that the “stay at home” order is the ONLY morally justifiable position to take, and that if you don’t share this view you are obviously, most DEFINITELY morally bankrupt, because OBVIOUSLY you DON’T CARE about the health and safety of “other people,” I ask you to consider….

…the SILENT MAJORITY of Americans who do NOT work from home, who were, before the pandemic, working in retail, living paycheck to paycheck, people who will continue to suffer from this “stay at home” order in increasingly devastating ways. 

…the thousands of children who will lose their lives (or at least their MINDS) due to hunger, physical/mental/emotional abuse, homelessness, neglect, social isolation.

…the "bread winners" who, feeling so desperate and helpless not to be able to provide for their family will eventually TAKE THEIR OWN LIVES.  Statistics show that for every percentage increase in unemployment, there are at least 5,000 suicides. 

…the INSANE number of small business owners, that went from being completely self-sufficient and independent, to being rendered completely DEPENDENT upon a BROKEN government.  Because it IS broken, y’all…make no mistake about it.  It was broken BEFORE Covid, and now it’s even MORE broken.

And I am not even asking you to CHANGE your opinion; keep it, i don't give a shit what you think.   I simply ask this: before you SHAME another human being (out loud or in your mind) about how horrible they are in “demanding to go back to work, they don't care about people they only care about the ECONOMY*” i ask that you PRESS PAUSE on that projection for a moment and consider: perhaps they reason why they “care about the economy” is because they love themselves, they love their families.   Just like you and me, they LOVE THEIR LIVES and the lives of their children. 

And for those of you who have the good fortune to be able to work from home, and continue to receive a paycheck…

For those of you who were able to stock away enough funds to help get you through a “rainy day” (or a global pandemic)…

And  especially: for those of you who have husbands, or wives, parents, or other significant others who you rely on for your financial security…yet you are steadily SHAMING the ppl who are fighting to be able to EARN a LIVING: I say…shame on YOU. 

SHAME. (rings bell)

SHAME. (rings bell)

SHAME. (rings bell)

Rant over.  

Now back to your regularly scheduled "programming."

*in the wise words of James Caraville, "It's the economy, stupid."