The Choice of Privilege!

#soulatwork #privilege #inequality #activism #Gaza #Southafrica

Over the past weeks, I’ve spent time with colleagues, friends, family, and loved ones who have shared moments of walking, talking, connecting, laughing, loving, and grieving. These experiences have reminded me of the deep, connected, and compassionate side of human nature—one that exists alongside the darker realities of despair, violence, and hatred that seem to threaten us daily. But why does it more often feel like the darkness overshadows the light?

I'm starting today from a place of refusal, resistance, and a desire to fight back. What could we achieve if we entered the battlefield armed with love, connection, ethics, morality, and the belief that every living being deserves to feel safe, respected, and cared for? More than that, what if we all committed to the idea that we bear responsibility for creating such a movement?

I’m reminded of the humanising call for radical healing that demands critical consciousness, radical hope, resilience, cultural authenticity, self-awareness, and collective action (French et al., 2019).

I grapple with the fact that I can express these thoughts because I am, in many ways, privileged. I am safe, supported, healthy, and resourced enough to summon positive thoughts and feelings. This truth raises an important question: What am I prepared to do with this privilege?

Two issues weigh heavily on me: the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the world’s seeming inability to stop it, and the hunger, violence, and inequality that erode our hope for a better future in our own country.

Every day, we name these injustices, we object and lament. Yet many of us feel increasingly powerless to enact real change. For some, the luxury of protest doesn’t exist, with each breath directed toward survival. Surrounded by destruction, missiles, and shattered lives, they continue to survive. Others spend every waking moment struggling to find food, clean water, shelter, healthcare, and education. And yet, in their fight to live and dream again, they exhibit a raw and unyielding will to survive.

Meanwhile, those of us who have resources slip into the stream of disempowerment and disconnection and fail in our responsibility of making the world better for everyone. Worse still, we point fingers—blaming the government, corrupt leaders, gangsters, and unethical systems. In doing so, we allow ourselves to grow increasingly bitter, ineffective, and indifferent, holding onto our lack of conviction to create real change in others’ lives.

As I write this, India Arie sings,

Behind my pride, there lives me, that knows humility

Inside my voice, there is a soul, and in my soul there is a voice

But I've been, too afraid to make a choice

And what is it that I choose? To be on the right side or wrong side of humanity? To live with or without reclaiming my power? To consume privileges or use them to fight for what others are denied? To ignore or reach for the

Strength, courage, and wisdom

Inside of me

I close my eyes and I think of all the things that I want to see... (India Arie)

I tell myself – “You have to choose and use the strength, courage, and wisdom inside you to fight for more light, humanity, care, and well-being in the world!”