Taking White Male Privilege for Granted

One of my core beliefs is that all people are precious and should be valued. We are brothers and sisters regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, education, power, and wealth. That is easy to say, especially since I sit on the top of the American food chain of privilege. That is not entirely true. I am not wealthy and yet I do not go hungry. I do not wield much power outside of a few small spheres in my life. I am an educated, caucasian, heterosexual male. I began to understand what that means by comparing my life to others groups that I studied in my summer psychology course. I read about what it means to be female, African-American, LGBT, older, impoverished, and an immigrant in the United States. Learning about the challenges that these groups face only begins to scratch the surface of understanding. If I have not walked in your shoes then I will have a limited understanding of your life and how you fit into this puzzle of society.

I have experienced marriage and divorce. I know what it is like to raise children in two different households.  I also know what it means to be a male who is not seen as an equal parent in they eyes of the court. I fare better than many divorced fathers so I will not complain too loudly. My experiences with divorce and fatherhood gave me a glance of what it is like to be discriminated against and it feels rotten.

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