I would consider myself privileged.
I would also consider myself relatively aware of the things that make me so. I can make a check-list of opportunities and experiences I have been given, that put together have given me a life without serious struggle.
However, until recently, I never understood what a privilege it was to be from the same country as Donald Trump.
If you’re shaking your head in disbelief, stick with me here. Spoiler alert: I don’t support Trump, in any circumstance. I was recently sitting at the dinner table with my host mom in Mexico, and the inevitable discussion of Trump came up. I felt the usual sense of shame and disappointment that he was who I was associated with, simply because his voice was what was being shown on TV.
I got ready to make my usual defenses: “I don’t like him, I don’t agree with his policy, and I think he’s giving the US a bad name.” But before I could go off on my normal spiel, she explained to me that she felt the same way. She didn’t like him, or what he stood for. She had friends that had visited the US, and seen first-hand the hate that he could spread.
Our stories were pretty similar: we didn’t like the guy…until it came to what we could do about that. Since I am over 18, I have the privilege of getting to vote in Novebmer, and getting to definitively say that I do not want Trump as America’s next leader. I have the opportunity to do this because I have been educated, I have been given government identification, and I have spent my lifetime being told that my voice matters. Whether or not my vote significantly impacts the outcome of this election, I was given a voice in the decision.
There are people around the world who are waiting with bated breath to see what November brings. People from all walks of life, from all backgrounds, and from all different languages. People who can do nothing more than hope that we, as citizens, make the right choice. Make the choice that will not vilify people of a different skin tone, a choice that will not yank away the rights that woman have worked hard to earn, and a choice that will not place the fate of our world in the hands of a greedy, monstorous man. More importantly, there are people in the US, whose voices are not allowed to matter in November, who are counting on us to make the choice they would if they could. Now that is a very big responsibility...and one that we have turned into a chore by making November’s election into nothing more than a battle of memes. In reality, we are very lucky to have something to complain about.
Because I am from the United States, I have the privilege of hating Donald Trump…and being able to do something about it.
So the next time I grumble about wishing I didn’t have to live in a country who would actually consider electing Donald Trump, I will remember that I am lucky beyond measure to have the privilege of disliking Trump.
