The privilege is not lost on me Merely for the lightness of my skin; The ease of my passport; The accessibility of my language; The gift of a family, whole The me, a minority in this foreign land A minority here that is but wished upon rather than judgmentally whispered about It's not lost on the me who has seen where privilege is so lacking Where tired feet walk And poverty encompasses The ones whose governments, circumstances, or philosophies show their hand of unreliability Proving their darkened, hopeless thoughts— ‘You see? No one to count on but yourself. Find your own way.’ This is not all there is! my heart longs to scream There is more than this hopelessness you too often feel More than empty plates, empty hopes, empty religions Or the magnitude of emotions felt down somewhere deep, from hurts and brokenness imposed by circumstances of no fault of their own But all they see are my rosy, white cheeks resting easy atop plush pillows A life so different from their own 'She doesn't understand,' they surely must think And they're right How could I?
But then enters a different privilege The gift from a perfect Savior being ripped open wide by a world rebelled against him The most selfless of acts enabling a separated people to be intertwined in a messy but beautiful togetherness A diverse unity Under the only One who can bring such disparate worlds to the same table Will anyone listen to this truth I have that's burning in every fiber of my bones? Or will my otherness be yet another barrier to what I know to be the only answer for all tiers on humanity’s deluded hierarchy For every division was shattered at the Name above all names He who chose to feel hunger, to often have no home over his head, to be persecuted by those misled religions, to desperately plead for the Father to take away his pain Yet still he chose obedience and unconditional love all the same The highest of us all climbing down the ladder and becoming like us That we might become like him So, how will I use all of my privilege? The temporary, infuriating ones simply from the color of my own skin and country of origin, but moreso The forever one from the very Creator who made every color in his image, dying for us all so that we might believe and live Will it be wasted on things too simple— Myself? My comfort? My own desires? Or will it be wasted toward what will eternally never run out… On my fellow finite man On sharing this very hope of what we are all offered yet so few of us have the privilege of truly knowing Good news for all people—rosy white cheeks and beaming brown ones alike On what is worth giving away to gain what can never be earned May my life fight against the natural turrets of man’s separateness from one another From the commonplace, accepted, and even applauded self-love Until more hear, more see, more breathe in The Life that privileges all who taste and see his very goodness Into eternity And also into his arms, now For them, for me For us
“For every division was shattered at the Name above all names.” Beautiful!!
Wow! Powerful word written with such eloquence. Makes me reflect on how I can not hold tightly to what I’ve been given but use it to make much of Jesus!