Weighter
Truth be tolled
Whoever’s pain the bill
I’d like a reseat
At the table
This poem addresses the truism that life is not fair. I have spent most of my life and part of most days working to address social injustices. Recently, with the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement, I have redoubled my efforts to examine my own privileges and disenfranchisements. In sum, I am a very privileged individual. I am fascinated by how our own sets of privileges and disenfranchisements play out in society, particularly social justice movements. Perhaps the most prevalent divide, present even within most households, is male and female. Patriarchy is nearly omnipresent. As in any privileged group, men must exert effort to not by default weaponize privilege against those disenfranchised, in this case, about half of the world’s population! I have seen how people of color and trans folks have worked hard to claim their rightful roles and places within the LGBT equality movement. In addition, socioeconomic class issues cut across virtually all social movements. As a U.S. citizen working predominantly alongside other U.S. citizens, the privilege of First-Worldism profoundly impacts our relevance and importance as planetary citizens, where the poorest majority of humanity bears the brunt of the rest of the world’s over-consumption of resources, abuses of power, and assorted and sundry cultural dominations.
As for me, solidarity is a primary guiding principle for my social justice activism. Literally standing with people who are disenfranchised in one way or another strikes me as one of the most direct ways to step toward social justice. This is related to “putting skin in the game,” which serves as my primary measure for authentic commitment to other human beings and the creation we share. As Alice Walker so elegantly stated, “Activism is my rent for living on this planet.” This planet, so teeming with life, deserves our respect, appreciation, and honest efforts to make it the best home possible for millions of miles around. As I like to say: Life isn’t fair, it’s excellent!
