Why so Surprised?

 

 "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose." The article When You’re Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression by Chris Boeskool, by title, made me think that in reading it I would just be reading what I always read about racism these days. Things like, "Racism is bad, white people are just racist people who don't wanna change the status of today." Which, yes racism is bad and the other things are true in some aspects, but Chris takes a look at the issue of equality from a different angle.

 

 He started by telling his encounter with a man who thought he ruled the world, and allowed others just to be in it. To summarize his article, the man, Chuck, always expected people to get out of the way and if you didn't he had no issue running you over. He did this for months and then one day Chris thought, "What if I didn't move?" So one day he didn't. He let the brick wall of a man attempt to bulldoze over him for the last time. Long story short Chuck got knocked off his high horse and wasn't happy about it. And that's understandable isn't it? I mean who really wants to be knocked down a peg? But then again who hates being stuck on the ground while everyone else is on cloud nine? My guess is just about everyone. So why is it so surprising to people when others try to climb to their level, when they themselves just clawed to the same level as another? Why everyone is so taken back that everyone does and wants the same things baffles me. And then they hardly ever view it as another raising themselves up, rather they see it as the other person trying to bring them down.

 

“Equality can feel like oppression. But it’s not. What you’re feeling is just the discomfort of losing a little bit of your privilege.” This. This simple, short, yet profound statement is what got me thinking. A picture of two little kids came to mind. One with, lets say, ten dino nuggets and another with only nine. Hang with me I have a point. The kid with nine realize that the other as one more than him and then thinks, "Well that's not fair is it? He has one more than me for no reason. Why shouldn't I have just as many?" So the kid with less begins to throw a fit saying he deserves just as many as anyone else. And eventually he wins. He is given an extra. But the other kid. The one who was on top, the one with more. He sees the other kid get an extra nugget and then feels cheated when in reality the kid with less was just trying to level the field. I know that was long winded but do you see how dumb that is? That some people are protesting people protesting inequality because they believe they are losing something when in reality they are just no longer risen above the rest?

"...people who have grown accustomed to walking straight at other folks, and expecting them to move. So when “those people” in their path don’t move — when those people start wondering, “Why am I always moving out of this guy’s way?”; when those people start asking themselves, “What if I didn’t move? What if I just kept walking too?”; when those people start believing that they have every bit as much right to that aisle as anyone else — it can seem like their rights are being taken away."

What if everybody just kept walking? Would everyone eventually just figure out that everyone wants what everyone else has. Whether that be what they physically have, socially have, etc., they just want to be equal. So my question to you, to everybody, is what kind of person are you? Are you a Chuck of the world, bulldozing your way through life? Or are you a Chris? Somone willing to not move when challenged, realizing that one person shouldn't be higher in comparison to another? And also think if the roles were reversed, whether you are a Chuck or a Chris, would you sympathize with the other side?  Or would you be just as stubborn and hardheaded only worrying about you and where you stand compared to others? Now to explain my seemingly random quote at the beginning of this blog. "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose." A person is a person is a person. No matter the color or background, they are still a person and don't deserve to be treated as anything else. You wouldn't look at a rose and tell it, "You don't deserve to be a rose, cause I and only I can be one. You're going to be a daisy now." That's ridiculous is it not? So why is it ok to look at another human, despite their race, sexual preface, religious beliefs, and tell them, "You can be a person but you can't be at the same level as me and have the same rights as me." You wouldn't be happy if the tables were turned to where you were being treated lesser than others. So why are you so ok treating other roses, as if they were just measly weeds?