Justice for All

Today I realize my position as one of the privileged class.
I’ve always been poor—in a way. I was taught by my relatives to think of myself this way. We never had much. We used things down to the last morsel of their usefulness, and often went without the “finer” things in life. We got boxes of food from the government and our church, went without Christmas toys on occasion. How is this privilege in America?

I did have plenty of intangible blessings that I am still realizing the full value of: a community that surrounded us on all sides, and let us know that we were in their prayers and that no matter what we would be fed, clothed, sheltered and educated. These were strong Mormon cultural values that guide me deeply to this day in ways I barely notice and some that I am trying desperately to shed.

My realization today that I am in fact part of the privileged class comes from a juxtaposition of two messages. I went to a lecture sponsored by AMSA (American Medical Student Association), regarding health literacy. It was a sobering reminder that nearly half the people in this country are functionally illiterate. The question asked was, how do we, as physicians, attempt to reach across the divide of our specialized 8, 9, 10+ years of higher education and $10,000 words to convey simple ways for people to follow our direction to achieve better health?

Now, an hour later, I sit and watch some college football and an IBM commercial comes on talking about the problem of water supply and the growing needs of an overburdened ecosystem. “Build a smarter planet” is the catchphrase…

Almost half the country is illiterate.

And this commercial touts a company’s ability to build a “smarter planet”?

It is this moment that I realize the special status that I have on this planet as an educated American who has a full belly and a few moments to catch a bit of football on Saturday night. I also realize the responsibility that I, and other members of my class have to managing the resources that this planet in its VAST—almost unfathomable—generosity gives to us.

We are the ones. WE have to take this power that we have been given in all the information that floats around us. Not to become cynical and apathetic about it, but use this time to reach out to see the rest of humanity and the struggles they endure just to live, and make it better, make it just.

We have arrived in our place of privilege on the backs of our ancestors who have enslaved, raped, pillaged, and very nearly used up the diversity and lush riches of this planet. Now it is time to use that position to bring some justice, equality and from those things—PEACE to the rest of the world.

And pray for those who have truly suffered, to forgive us for taking so long to do it.