A privilege, not a right

I knew what privilege was when I was a kid. It was the set of things I was allowed to have and do that my mom could take away if she was feeling bitchy. I knew I had a lot of it, because Mom liked to remind me of this fact, usually when I was acting persecuted. I was annoyed when she did this, because by my understanding of the concept of privilege, all she was doing was throwing salt in my wounds about how much control she had over me. When she said I should be grateful for what I had, I thought she meant I should be grateful to her. Which maybe sometimes she did. But being grateful to circumstances is different, and when I think of privilege now, I think of circumstances.

I am not rich right now. I'm pretty sure that technically I'm below the poverty line. But socially, I'm definitely middle class, and I have a lot of resources and support. It's something I never thought about when I was told I should be thinking about it, but I'm thinking about it a lot now.

I know a fair number of affluent kids who clearly don't think about it either. It makes me wonder what can be done to raise people who understand the context of what they do and don't have. Sometimes I see their parents trying to get it across to them, and I wonder if there's a way to do it right. There was Anytown, of course, which I think every teen should attend, but I don't know what can be done for younger kids. I guess operational definitions are a good place to start.

A little too smart, maybe

The #1 predictive text suggestions on my phone for these letters:

C: cc
D: demyelination
K: Kiiiiit
L: Love
P: Poison

Motorcycles, neuroscience, friends, affection, and mild creepiness... yeah, that about sums me up.