Day Two- Missed it

Ok, so apparently I am not very good at this daily writing thing.  I guess that gives me lots of room for improvement!

Last night, I chose to go to Lowe's and the grocery store and then to finish making soup, and completely forgot to write.  So, today, I will write twice.  Once this morning, and then, tonight after dinner. (I was going to write 'that is unless I forget' but in the spirit of manifesting that which you think, I will leave it as 'I will write tonight after dinner')

I have been reflecting on how much my thinking has changed over the last three years.  I went into my Masters thinking that I was pretty self aware and came out recognizing that my awareness was tampered by my privilege.  I recognized that I was blessed and had a very good life.  From travelling around the world and seeing how other people live, I recognized that being Canadian offered ease and comfort.  I recognized that I was from an upper-middle class family who gave me everything I ever wanted.  What I didn't recognize was how those things influenced the way I move through life. 

Because of where I came from and who I am, I have always known that I would be successful in whatever I did.  I am a white, upper middle class, intelligent female and the only way I could have more privilege would be if I were male (or a queen).  As a girl, I lived a sheltered life in the suburb of Pickering, where I had the best teachers, a small class size and opportunities to explore whatever I was interested in.  My parents were able to offer me any after school programs I wanted and so explored dance, gymnastics, swimming, roller skating, knitting, pottery, drama, tennis, racquet ball...the list goes on.  I never wanted for anything.  I could have ended up a spoiled brat with no respect for what I had, but my mother worked really hard to keep me grounded.  Thank you mom.

As a result of growing up in the place I did, with the resources that were presented to me, embedded in me was a sense that the world was my oyster.  I could do, and be whatever I wanted.  I was free.

I didn't understand why everyone didn't feel that way.  I could understand the limitations put on people in developing countries and that they would have to work harder to overcome them, but that's all I thought they had to do- was to work hard and to lift themselves out of poverty.  That was the line that I was fed.  Work hard and you succeed.  If you are not succeeding, you must be lazy or there's something wrong with you.  I truly believed this.  It was engrained within me.  So, I looked at people in Canada, who I wrongly believed had all the same privilege that I had, and couldn't understand why they weren't thriving.  It wasn't until I was exposed to the ideas of social justice that I began to understand what life could be like.  I don't suppose that I will ever fully understand what it's like to come from a place without privilege.  How could I?  But I think my eyes and my heart are now a little more open than they used to be.  I don't plan on closing them again.