Equality and equity
I don't have to be gay to understand that all people should be entitled to the same human rights and dignity, or to support LGBTQIA people.
I don't have to be indigenous to support my indigenous brothers and sisters
I don't have to or be a refugee to support those fleeing war zones, especially when the wars in their countries were created and fueled by the west's insatiable pursuit of crude oil, and my country was one of those who participated in those invasions in on knowledge there were no WMD but using that as their reason.
I don't have to be in a wheel chair to support those who are disabled or suffering hidden illnesses.
I just have to be able to listen to the stories of people who are, to respect their sovereignty, and hear their perspective on the big and small things in life, and imagine how I would feel if it were me, and to do something, and call out injustice when I witness it, because what I fail to condemn I condone.
It costs nothing to be a decent human being, to have compassion and humanity.
This is why I can't be silent when it happens in front of me.
Because if I am standing up for and supporting others - when I don't have to -
In the face of those doing harm - when they have no reason and don't have to -
Then just maybe I can change their mind and their behavior.
May be their change will be for a minute, in my dreams it will be for a lifetime.
It costs me nothing -worth losing- to speak up.
It gives me back more to myself than pure gain.
I try to open minds and hearts, but walk away when that is not possible.
It's an awareness that opens and expands my observance and ability in my work, because to seek to empathise you must first see, and understand how something that doesn't directly affect you may well be having very real outcomes for others. To understand leads to being further able to perceive in readings and assist.
To be unaware of one's own privilege, I define as being the belief that just because something doesn't directly affect someone personally, that it shouldn't affect anyone else. And, that in that lack of awareness, that one would think that those directly affected shouldn't speak up... Because it's somehow not their right to firstly identify the experience, and secondly to seek to correct the situation by holding those views to account.
I seek to be aware of my privilege, and use it to help others.
As it is not possible to be racist against the powerful majority in any society, and those complain who the world's gone "too PC" are really living in the past. They are just saying they don't know how to deal with the shifting of the balance of power where all the groups that were once insulted often and who used to say nothing in reply are now speaking up, being heard, and refusing to be silenced.
To know how something feels, change the situation around by replacing the gender, orientation, person, or group that you think shouldn't feel aggrieved and put yourself in their shoes, walk that mile, and stop assuming how others should feel when you haven't taken the time to understand them.
Lots of love
xxxx
Jacquelene
