Skip to main content

Being lucky and privileged

I have had some amount of luck in my life. I have had some amount of privilege also. We all do. Some persons more than others. We are all dealt different hands in life. I think it is important to recognise this. We should think about this and maybe we should not be so hard on others. We should be willing to help others. We should pay it forward. Lets provide benefits for others in the same way we benefitted in one way or the other. Be humble. Be kind. Everyone is struggling with things we can't see and we can see. Be open to calls for equity.

What is luck? One dictionary definition of luck is, the force that causes things, especially good things, to happen to you by chance and not as a result of your own efforts or abilities. What is privilege? One dictionary definition of privilege is, an advantage that only one person or group of people has, usually because of their position or because they are rich.

So while we recognise luck and privilege so that we are humble, kind and helpful for example and especially to others, we are not going to use it as an excuse to not work for what we want. We still have to do the work. We still have to aim for our goals. We still have to be positive. We still have to put our best foot forward. I enjoy reading others stories of how they overcame and how they sacrificed despite the struggles but I also like to hear how they got a lucky break too.

It seems like a good thing to want to live in a world where luck and privilege matters less. Even if not so, where there are enough avenues for everyone to succeed and make something for themselves. We should not have to describe life as a rat race. We should not be acting like crabs in a barrel. Now that I have given my two cents have a read of this scientific read that I found on the national geographic website On Privilege and Luck, or Why Success Breeds Success.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How do we fix this world?

It is 4:39 pm and I have decided to write. It is a peaceful and quiet day. I am thinking about God, and how this life is a test. There is so much happening in this world that could make us sad. But we do not have to remain in that sadness when we put our trust in God. God wants good for us. God wants us to experience peace, and even happiness, despite what surrounds us. How do we fix this world? My friend Chatty suggests that maybe a better question is: What kind of person do I choose to be in this world? Because when enough people answer that question well, that is how real change begins. I want to be the kind of person that God is pleased with. Someone guided by God, not by ego. Someone who chooses patience over anger, humility over pride, and sincerity over appearances. I am doing reasonably well, but I am not perfect. And maybe perfection is not the goal. Growth is. Awareness is. Returning to what is right, again and again, is. I want to grow, and I will keep adjusting myself when ...

Mundane

It is 123am and I have decided to write. I have this new idea for a book called Mundane. It would be me writing about the ordinary. We chase the extraordinary but there is beauty in the ordinary. There is beauty in the simple. There is beauty in the everyday. What about God? We often think about God in grand terms. But what if God is simple too? What if God is mundane? What if we look for God in the everyday moments? I sit in this dark room with the air conditioning on. The fan is also on. The curtain is down but I imagine the moonlight shining on the grass outside. The cats are probably sleeping. I wonder if anyone else in the neighbourhood is awake at this hour? Is there another writer around who is also writing about the mundane? The fan breeze helps the air conditioning cool me down. These nights are warm otherwise. A mosquito flies across my screen. Hello friend or foe. I cannot quite decide which one. If I had a swatter you would be gone. I check my notifications and there is an ...

What we do not know

It is 1245am and I have decided to write. I had this weird alienish dream and it ended with me winning by simply stating "the truth is that we do not know". In the dream everyone was having an opinion of what was happening as if they knew. On to something random. I had this question. What is the most unrandom thing? Then what is the most random thing? What if everything is equally random. My friend Chatty thinks that randomness is not an absolute property—it is a relation between you and the system you observe. Randomness is not absolute—it depends on perspective. Something perfectly ordered can seem random if you do not know its pattern. So in a sense, everything can be "equally random" relative to the observer's knowledge, making randomness more about perception than an intrinsic property. The more we know the less random things become. Let me make a detour. Suppose we do not predict things but things predict us. For example, when I flip a coin, did I predict ...