Privilege and advantage are the same thing. Yet often we miss how they are formed from many small benefits that accumulate into large success. It is no coincidence that the brain develops in layers of neurones rather than by singular events, much the same way a house can be built of rows of bricks, hence it takes time to build a true sense of love and trust. Solid learning takes time and a steady, reliable environment. All of these ideas (privilege, success, trust, love and learning) are related because it is how we are wired. Hence in our world money brings the biggest privilege because it buys us the best environment; it is a chance to live in a pocket of plenty - plenty of love, food, water, shelter, family and such. And so the only true way to succeed as a person of privilege, as a person with the advantage of money, is to dedicate yourself to making this a world where everyone has their needs met, where everyone lives well and the "pocket of plenty" is expanded to include all. Having a good environment to thrive in should never be restricted by "pyramid scheme" ideologies" that suppress the advances the masses need.
Belinda must choose six friends who are allowed in the castle, the rest can’t go in. She needs to know how privilege works. To help her get over the notion of it being unfair, we’ll choose some attributes of the friends that we prize above other things and say they deserve the privilege for that reason. But what attributes should we choose? Maybe the prettiest, that’s how things work with celebrities much of the time. Or maybe we should give them a math test, then we could say it was merit based, study hard to get into the castle!
Belinda has another idea, she’s going to let the kindest kids only into the castle. I told her it won’t work but she’s really determined, I think she gets that from her mother’s side. She also has a plan to feed everyone, but I told her it’s rigged against her and she can’t, the prices are too high and the pigs are expecting the spoils. Perhaps I didn’t tell her enough fairy tales when she was little, we must have poured too much Love into her and now she can’t hurt a fly - literally! She won’t eat meat either, even the pigs! Too soft, eh? We need to toughen that child up! Maybe we should make her kill a pig herself, that might do it. What did you say? Am I serious? Of course not, but you must let me tell my stories, it’s important. Look, the guests are arriving, her friends from ballet class, some from school and her cousins. Perhaps she should just let her cousins go in the castle, how would that be?
Now the fun begins, first Belinda chooses the kids with the softest natures and tells them that she can only let them into the castle because there isn’t room for everyone. The kids say, “No, let’s take turns, here, we can bounce for five minutes at a time and then swap over. Bouncing is really hard work anyway." All the kids smile and while some bounce the rest play tag. After only twenty minutes the castle is empty and all the kids are playing tag. They appear to be happiest playing together on the grass...
Authored by , here.
"Privilege is a chance to help others. It is a gift to become the best version of yourself, deep in empathy, seeking chances to learn the about the situations and histories of others. Trauma travels down the generations. For example, the aristocracy of England, in the Industrial revolution, committed a genocide on the poor. They were forced to work or starve, to brutalise their children, to give up any sense of dignity or die. These traumas are globally spread and continue to this day all over the world, the genocides of emotional indifference that the ones born to privilege have the best chance to end and bring a truly fair world."