Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life. Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye.

My intention is to offer food for thought, and today I want to talk about privilege, what it is, what it's not, who has it, and what we can do with it. Privilege is an unearned advantage or immunity available only to a particular person or group.

When someone tells you to check your privilege, they are suggesting you recognize your

advantageous position due to a particular social category to which you belong through no fault or doing of your own.

Even being good looking, according to cultural standards, is a privilege with its own perks and benefits.

So this discussion is truly about privilege without any political agenda between the lines.

For example, I am privileged in that I am temporarily able-bodied, and

unless I use my currently able body to ensure every public space is made accessible to those who are not, then I'm part of the problem, not the solution.

I don't need to wait until I'm personally in need of accommodations to demand them.

There are people who need them right now.

Resources are systematically available to people

who are physically, psychologically,

cognitively, and intellectually able, but it comes at the expense of and often without consideration for people with a disability, be it physical, psychological, or a learning difficulty.

I didn't earn my privilege and I can't get rid of it,

but I think it's important for me to acknowledge it

and then use it to help those who aren't equally represented.

Privilege is not a bad word.

It only carries a negative connotation

if someone thinks that something isn't even a problem

if it doesn't personally affect them. This can present itself as male privilege in a world

where men aren't concerned or actively involved in making sure women have free access to

menstrual products for for example, or industries where men earn more money than women to perform the same job.

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