This is in response to a lovely article I read the other day, titled "Shut Up, You're Lucky To Be An American." The link to the original article is https://www.theodysseyonline.com/shut-up-youre-luc....

Dear Bonnie,

I agree that, yes. We are lucky to be Americans. We are lucky to live in this country. And yes, you are lucky that you "woke up to [your] alarm going off, got out of bed, ate a full breakfast and drove in [your] car to college classes... ate a salad from a fast food restaurant and went.. to work. After [you] got off work, drove to the gym and worked out while listening to music on [your] iPhone, and then.. drove home to [your] apartment that was warm, despite the cold temperature outside... took a hot shower, brushed [your] teeth and laid down in [your] bed and curled up to watch some tv until [you] dozed off, just to wake up and do it all over again the next day."

And yes. What a charmed, wonderful life you live, here in the US of A. But the incredible thing is something you fail to realize; not everyone here in the USA has the same amount of privilege you have. That's right. I'm using your word against you here, honestly, because I feel like you've failed to grasp the meaning of it.

This is in no way meant to attack you. I think that you are an excellent writer and I think you made some good points in your article. However, I disagree with a multitude of points you've made. For example, I live a very similar life to the one you do. I live in a warm home, went to a nice high school, and now go to a great college that I love. However, there are people in this country that do not have the same situation as you and I do. There are millions of people across the country that live in poverty, who can't get a hot shower don't have a warm bed to go home to every night. There are people, families, that I know and love, that have to choose between paying their heat or electric bill because 2 full time jobs are not enough to sustain a 2 bedroom house for them and their children. There are people that are sick and have to choose between getting healthcare and putting their children in debt, or letting themselves literally die to give their children a financial upper hand. There are transgender people being killed because they just exist.

So yes. That privilege you're recognizing? That's your own privilege. You, shockingly enough, as a white, cis woman, do not represent the whole of the American people.

American women fight for equal wages because it's important (http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-abou...). Women are still killed here just because they're women (Here's some examples of women who were murdered for rejecting men http://thoughtsonliberty.com/elliot-rodger-killed-... http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Police-Man-kill...). The LGBT community is still being attacked, and people are still being killed just for loving who they love (The most famous example being the Florida Shooting in the LGBT nightclub, which I'm sure you've hear of, so I'm just giving you the wiki on that one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Orlando_nightcl....). People are still being discriminated against for their religion here and their lives are still being threatened (http://www.njtvonline.org/news/video/bomb-threats-... https://www.aclu.org/feature/anti-muslim-discrimin...). Not everyone gets treatments in sanitary hospitals in the United States because, once again, healthcare is still considered a privilege instead of a right (http://www.pnhp.org/excessdeaths/health-insurance-...).

And that wonderful "you don't have to worry about clean water" thing you mentioned? The people of Flint Michigan still don't have clean drinking water. (And they probably won't until 2020, and that's not even the entire population http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/04/us/flint-water-crisi...).

Finally, we're addressing that whole "President Trump was horrified... when he saw the piles of dead children." Why was that enough for him to drop a bomb on a nation but not enough to remove the ban he placed on countries facing war in the middle east? If he cares so much about the children, why is he refusing families from our country? Why are they not allowed to share in the privilege that you claim we all experience?

I would say for you to check your own privilege.

I love my country. And I refuse to "leave." Because I, for whatever reason, really believe that we are capable of making our nation better, and we can change things for the good of our people. I refuse to accept my own privilege as the privilege of all citizens.

And to all the Americans out there that are angry today because of the things that Ms. Smith said in her letter, I have a message to you: Good. Stay angry. Chanel it into something good. Volunteer. Give back. Donate to charities. Make phone calls. Stay very, very angry. It's the people who are angry that can make change happen. It's the people who are angry that make the world a better place.

With much love,

Katie DeMedio