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Privilege — n. a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others.
Right — n. something that a person is or should be morally or legally allowed to have, get, or do.
***
In the ladies room, during class break, I am disgusted by the state of the bathroom.
Me: Aren't we in this together? I mean, what is going on in here? It's disgusting.
Classmate: Yeah, I blame the undergrads.
Me: But still, seems pretty gross to treat a bathroom like this, when you know everyone is going to use it.
Overheard in class last night.
Student: Their parents need to teach them manners.
Paul, driving on 676 to drop me off at school. We’re talking about driving and pedestrians who choose to walk in the street rather than on the provided sidewalk.
Paul: People need to learn manners. Their parents should have taught them how to be polite.
Me: Did your parents teach you manners?
Paul: Yeah.
Me: Did you walk in the street when you were younger?
Paul: Well, yeah. But I was living dangerously.
Me: Living dangerously? By walking in the street?
Paul: Yeah.
Me: Okay, well that’s dumb. But that’s not the point. Your parents taught you not to do that. To walk on the sidewalk. To be courteous.
Paul: Yeah.
Me: So then, why did you walk in the street?
Paul: Because, I was living dangerously.
Me: No. It’s because you felt you had a right to. We were all taught manners and how to be polite and what courtesy is. But what parents aren’t teaching their kids about is Privilege.
Paul: [tries to talk, but owing to years of experience dealing with me, knows better than to really stop me]
Me: No, listen. We all do it. This is MY street. I have the RIGHT to walk here. MY town. MY lane. MY school. MY right of way. ME ME ME ME MY MY MY MY. We know what manners are, but we alllllll choose not to use them because we feel we have a right NOT to use them.
***
As Mrs White, my driver’s ed teacher said: “Driving is a privilege, not a right.”
And as Graham Dashwood (from “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”) said, “People here [in India] see life as a privilege, not a right.”
And as Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
And as Paul Robeson said, “This is our home and this is our country. Beneath its soil lie bones of our fathers [and mothers]; for it some of them fought, bled, and died. Here we were born and here we will stay.”
And as Herman Melville said, “We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow-[citizens]; and along those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and come back to us as effects.”
