I am feeling grateful today for my family and my friends and
my dogs and my life in America. But I want to acknowledge that my happiness is
tainted by the headwind blowing in the faces of so many others in this country.
To be grateful for what I have without recognizing the advantages I have been
born into is a hollow kind of gratefulness.
I was born in 1965 in the United States to a white mother
and father who were of European descent and spoke English as a first language.
I am a white male. I am now 52 years old and I live in a comfortable house. My
wife and I both earn a steady income. We have been able to give our daughter a
life full of opportunities and plenty.
My life has been easy.
And for this I am feeling especially grateful today.
At the same time, I am feeling especially aware of the fact
that my entire life I have had a tailwind helping me along.
People have not watched me carefully in stores; they have
not kept an eye on me when I walked or biked through their neighborhoods; they
have not clutched their bag a little tighter as I walked by; they have not
wondered if I was admitted to my college or hired for my job because of my skin
color; they have not refused to rent their apartments to me; they have not
reached out to touch my hair uninvited; I have not had to work extra hard to
put people at ease and make them understand I am not a threat.
All I have had to do is go through life being myself. Being
myself is not always easy—I am a bit stunted emotionally, a bit anxious around
people, a bit awkward in social situations---but being a white male American in
the 1960s through the 2010s has meant that I have not had to worry about an
entire layer of problems that many other people DO have to worry about.
As I said, I have had a tailwind pushing me gently forward
every step of my life. It is a life I love, yet I want to live in a country
where everyone has the same opportunities I have had. Sadly, that is still not
the case.
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