Privilege

It is amazing the things that are slowly revealing themselves as luxuries to me.  There are the obvious things - like toilets, consistent running water, hot water, showers, sinks inside, dishwashers, microwaves, ovens, stoves, cupboards, rugs, individual chairs instead of benches, wood floors, wood-stoves or furnaces, ceilings that don't leak, raincoats instead of sheets of plastic, windows, lamps, refrigerators, cars, enforced traffic laws, a decent education, a nutritious diet - or enough food to maintain a healthy weight, washing machines, dryers, couches, printers, well maintained roads, decent public transportation, a good mattress, a lack of flees, safe drinking water, a vacuum cleaner, the ability to have a dog for affection and not to guard your house against thieves, and a cat for snuggling and not to eat the rats.

But then there are things that aren't so obvious, or at least weren't to me - but come to me slowly.  For example, I'm freaking out a little right now about what I will do with myself when I finish service.  I don't know where I'm headed from here and don't know what will make me happy.  But that's the thing.  So many of us in the United States agonize over what to chose that will make us happy.  That's a luxury.  It is a luxury to pick a career based on how fulfilled it will make us, how best it matches our interests and strengths, where here, in large part, you take whatever job, whatever opportunity you find that will put some money in your pocket, some tin over your head, and some pancito in your mouth.  People with gifts, bright individuals haven't received an education that stretches their mind, that piques their interest, that inspires them, lose interest in school and find whatever job they can that makes money, unable to hone their skills and contribute something incredible.  It makes me angry.

Here I am, laboring over what I'm going to do with my Yale degree.  I have all the opportunities in the world, although it sometimes feels harder than that, and I am so concerned about finding the career that will fulfill me the most, knowing that overall, money will not be a concern for me.  I will find a job that pays enough to get by.  I don't have to worry about taking the first opportunity or fighting for that one opportunity.  I will work to get where I want to go, but I don't have to worry about tomorrow, about where the money will come from.  I have the luxury of choosing what I think will make me the most happy.  If that's not a sign of privilege, I don't know what is.