If you have a home, regular warm meals, and loved ones to comfort you, you're privileged: if you live in America, chances are, you're privileged.
Angelina Jolie, when receiving the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2013, stated the following:
"When I met survivors of war and famine and rape, I learned what life is like for most people in this world and how fortunate I was to have food to eat, a roof over my head, a safe place to live and the joy of having my family safe and healthy. And I realized how sheltered I have been. And I was determined never to be that way again. We are all -- everyone in this room -- so fortunate.
"I have never understood why some people are lucky enough to be born with the chance that I had, to have this path in life and why across the world, there is a woman just like me, with the same abilities and the same desires, same work ethic and love for her family, who would most likely make better films and better speeches. Only she sits in a refugee camp, and she has no voice. "
Jolie's words struck a chord in me the first time I heard them: and even right now, re-watching her speech for what feels like the hundredth time, they emanate chills down my spine. It's unfathomable to think of how lucky some of us are to be in the situations we're in, and it's rare to find someone -- especially in Jolie's position -- who is so humble.
When we have bad days, we might feel as if the world is crashing down on us, as if every imaginable force is working against us. We have every right to feel this way. We're human.
What we have to try to remember is that our worst days differ from another's in astonishingly vast ways.
What might be unfortunate for a student in Australia -- let's say, a poor test grade -- would be a blessing to a young child who lives somewhere unfortunate enough that attending school at all is a rarity. While someone in a middle-class family in Canada might be upset because of a little bloating from a big holiday meal, there is someone in another country, right now, starving to death: someone who would give everything to eat anything, or someone who would risk dying of starvation to make sure that their family eats.
For all we know, there could be a homeless man in California, who goes swimming in the ocean almost every day, and is almost as great as Michael Phelps -- maybe even better. There could be a young woman in Ethiopia who spends her days trying to gather food and water for her family, with the same athletic potential as Allyson Felix. There could be a little boy in Nicaragua that has an IQ higher than anybody we've ever known.
Seeing that these people are, in retrospect, so incredibly maltreated and "non-credible," they have no possible way of emitting their talents or sharing their knowledge.
That man in California is seen as dirty and lazy and untrustworthy -- all because he's homeless -- and because of that, people don't want to help him. That Ethiopian woman doesn't have the time or energy to go for runs and exercise her body in ways other than absolutely necessary for her and her family's wellbeing. That little boy never learned how to spell, and doesn't even have a pencil and paper to write with, and therefore he has no means of documenting his brilliant thoughts.
"I don’t know why this is my life and that’s hers," Jolie admitted, upon closing her speech. "I don’t understand that, but I will do as my mother asked, and I will do the best I can with this life, to be of use."
I believe everybody should follow in Jolie's footsteps.
Appreciate the situation you live in, the people around you, the school you go to, the work you get paid for to have the opportunity to purchase or obtain all of your necessities.
Appreciate the fact that you're reading this, because this means you're blessed enough to have learned how to read. It means you have the technology to access the internet and to freely browse whatever you desire. You probably are involved in some type of social media, therefore, you have an ability to communicate with the masse: to spread your voice, to preach for good will and humanity in the same.
Appreciate the things you take for granted, and use them to your advantage: because you can. You have the power to do good. You have the power to advocate for others. You are privileged.
