Privilege

These past few weeks, I have felt a shift in my approach to things. For a long time, I had been wrestling with this change, which stems from the privilege I felt that I was born with.

I am a middle-class (mostly) white male that comes from an educated family with loving and supportive parents to boot. I have not ever had to go hungry at home or wonder if I was going to have a roof over my head to sleep under. I have never been in an abusive relationship with anyone and I do not find myself bound to any deleterious addictions. I will complete my undergraduate education relatively debt-free. I have been fortunate enough to travel abroad and throughout our country. I feel blessed in every sense of the word. My movement towards the realization of my privilege in the past year or so had really thrown me for a loop.

I have heard a smorgasbord of career advice, but one stood out to me. "Do what you love, love what you do". It is the tried-and-true maxim of so many of those aspiring to happiness through their work. It seems to be the dream, waking up and not fearing to go work.

And this aphorism has seemed ubiquitous among the people that surround me, who also tend to come from privileged backgrounds as well.

"Do what you love, love what you do".

The current mindset arising from this quote, rather than the quote itself, perplexed me. Who was I to be able to do what I love for a job, when there are so many others my age struggling in a mire of student loan debt and the like? What principle justifies the allowance for my pursuit my passions while others just have to settle for making ends meet? Hell, who was I to ponder this issue on a blog in the summer months while so many others are out in the heat, busting their asses to stay afloat? These continued questions led to a moment of clarity: This entitled attitude towards work - that it should be more so leisure than actual work - was just an extension of thought by that privileged subsection of people, myself included.

Being completely honest, it depressed me for a little bit. I emphasize "a little bit" because I think I am an annoyingly bubbly and optimistic person at heart. But then, I was able to move past that initial, despairing realization into something that I could actually apply to myself.

"I am privileged to be where I am, and taking that into consideration, I will strive to appreciate all the moments I am working, because I know that it could be a whole lot worse. By the same token, I will try to work to improve the lives of those that are less fortunate than I, because I think that they deserve better".

(As a caveat, I do not think my life is solely work, it just so happens that we have to do it to make our way).

Now that quote may not make it into any list of truths anytime soon, but it works for me. And I hope that if you stumble upon this, you take something from it too.

Disconnecting

Hello all!

It's been quite a while since I have been on this blog; after looking back over some of the things I said in my earlier posts, one thing has become particularly clear to me:
every time I think I say something smart/poignant/striking - I usually end up laughing at it later.

I suppose this means that I'm either a comedian who just is completely unaware of their talent, or I'm just kind of oblivious to things like that. I'll go with the latter. Anyway, onto the topic at hand!

The other day, I went over to visit my friend, and a couple of her relatives, who were both elementary school-aged, were there as well.

I expected a super loud commotion resulting from them playing, fighting, or just being kids, but there was none to be heard. Instead, I saw both of them on iPads, playing games in relative silence.

Now this might be a boon to someone who is babysitting these kids (how many times have you ever just wanted them to be quiet?), but to me, it was a pretty crazy thing to witness. Not to say that I have never been guilty of browsing my phone during times where I probably should have paid attention, but I think that it's sad that in a world that is continually becoming more and more interconnected, people have become disconnected with each other.

Think about it! Twelve years ago, whenever I was those kids' age, we did not have as an intense overload from social media and smartphones that they face today. We still had TV and other things like that, but I still remember spending a lot of time playing with legos or acting out a make-believe scenario with my friends. Even at that point, our generation was viewed the same way I'm viewing these kids now.

And kids are not the only ones that are influenced today! Every age group under the sun cannot get away from the constant bombardment of news, social media, and entertainment that our culture has become so saturated in.

I'll stop my rant now, because it's quickly turning repetitive. However, I turn to another point of importance, that point being to disconnect from all the hustle and bustle of today's world, and to re-connect to the immediate world around you.

That immediate world could be whatever or whoever is important to you. Whether its calling relatives, having a good, meaningful conversation, or even going on a walk - at the end of the day, it's whatever helps you be more grounded, whatever gives you that visceral feeling of being alive! I feel like I'm happier when I do this every once in a while, so it can't hurt to give it a shot!

Anyway, that's about all I have to say today! So, until next blog post, I bid you all farewell.
And happy New Year!

Make it count.