Confidential, Top Secret, Surprise, Don't Tell Anyone. These are all phrase we have heard a few times in our lives for different reasons. Whether you work somewhere that has top secret information or have friends that have planned surprise parties, you have had information that was a privilege for you to know. Have you ever considered that your common everyday information may be just as “confidential”?
I have officially made it through 11 months on the World Race. As I look back over the year, there have been times when I have said “ . . . is really a privilege”. Different continents, counties, and cultures lend themselves to different information, but it is still shocking when I encounter the moments of knowing that I have privileged information.
Growing up in the United States is a privilege. Not just for the reasons that immediately come to mind, but for all of the things that I experienced this year that some people have no idea about. My head would spin, I was shocked, my heart hurt, I was sad. I live in even more of a bubble than I realize. WE ARE THE PRIVILEGED IGNORANT.
Words like whale, roller coaster, camping, tent, washing machine and dishwasher might as well be things in outer space for all some people know. I ran into blank stares and heads tilted sideways more times than I can count when we would play hangman or pictionary with kids. “What is that?” or “I have never heard of that.” These were common expressions I received. Then I would proceed to explain what a whale was . . . “you know, like a really big fish, they live in the ocean”, and so on. Inevitably I would draw a picture to try to connect the words to this image, but they still did not know what these words, that I would consider “basic knowledge”, meant. This was not just the case in Africa, but in parts of Asia and Central America too! It was hard to wrap my head around, and overtime, I realized just how privileged I was to have access to information.
I could go on and on about the privileges I have or should I say comforts of a bed, air conditioning, a car, food stuffed in cupboards, ice, and so many other things. People around the world lack basic knowledge such as hand washing and tooth brushing. They don't know what it means to bake or even what chocolate chip cookies are as we quickly found out in Cambodia. To know a recipe would be considered a privilege. I have also realized that having a device that tells time is a privilege. It not just the things that I look at around my home and say “yes I should value this more because it is a privilege to have”, but even the things that I would never consider a privilege are. Clean clothes and running water, you have to have one to get the other, and most of the world just does not have access to these things.
Coming on the Race, I knew so much about third and fourth world counties, but until you encounter the lack of knowledge time and time again, only then does it sink in. Some of it still is hard for me to think back on and i kind of just shake my head almost in disbelief that around the world things are just “different”. So many times I wanted to just give people the basics, a fresh baked cookie, a dress that didn't have holes or years worth of stains, a toothbrush & paste to the 4 year old whose front teeth were already blacked out because they were rotting. I have been a lot of places, seen a lot of things, but I will also walk away with knowing that people who don't have much have the most. They are so talented and resourceful with what they do have access to. They have the most joy and often times consider themselves so very blessed. I would say that to live a life where nothing becomes everything is a pretty incredible place to be.
