Privilege and Responsibility
A few months ago i was hanging out with the woman who is the childrens’ pastor at the church I go to right now. She is a friend of mine, and I babsit her kids a lot so we wind up talking about mundane, beautiful things like grocery shopping and how to take care of a hardwood floor. She was telling me how some of her friends think she is wrong to take her two little boys in to the doctor to get immunizations because it is not how we were naturally intended to be, immunized. And I think that is silly because one of her little boys gets sick a lot; he always has a cough or allergies or something. I tell Shannon not to worry, that it is because pastors kids are in church nurseries all the time and around such a wide range of people all the time; and really, pastors can’t just not spend time with people. People are their job. But about the immunization thing, it was never in the original plan for people to have them, they are right about that. But it was also never in the original plan for there to be diseases. And really the only reason they can get away with not giving their kids vaccinations is that everybody else in America has them. If they lived in Africa their kids would be dead. And kids who do live in Africa, would die to have the opportunity to have vaccinations. And are, quite literally.
So these are the same people who shop at Wild Oats and buy all-natural, organic foods. And I began to think about all of the ways that I prefer to eat organic, free-range, etc. And how much it costs. And how on earth can I be so picky? What right do I have? I mean there are kids who live not far from me who would love it if their parents had the money to bring home any fresh vegetables at all, regardless of whether they’re organic or not; and forty years ago my mother was one of those little kids. Why am I so lucky? Why, of all the places on God’s earth, was I born to the privelege I live with? Why white? Why middle-class? Why educated? Why vaccinated? Why well-fed? “With great privilege comes specific obligations.” Clearly I have an obligation to use such blessings well. I want to help others on whenever and wherever possible.
