Her most recent post is of a survey designed to point out the advantages we may have that have nothing to do with our own work but rather have been handed to us because we were born at a particular place and time to particular parents. Each applicable statement is in bold type. Jeanne posted the survey with permission from the authors; information is at the bottom of the post. If you decide to repost, please do include that attribution information.

Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children’s books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
You had your own room as a child
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 (not that I’m aware of)
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up (Mainly the free ones–with six kids in the house, it makes sense)
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

By the standards on this list, I think I’m privileged, especially due to my parents’ interest in our education. But there’s a complicating factor: I didn’t grow up in the US, and I always felt that we had a high standard of living–compared to our neighbors. When my parents bought our house in Mexico, for the vast sum of $5,000 US, we eventually got a floor, running water, converted the livestock room into a kitchen, put in windows, wiring for electricity, and set up the washing machine that had been given to us. We lived in relative luxury, the eight of us in a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house.

At the same time, trips to the US demonstrated to me that we were, in fact, very poor by American standards. I continue to have a sense of not quite belonging here, even while recognizing the enormous advantages I have had simply by being part of my large, quirky, and awesome family.

People who work in nonprofits tend to not earn as much as their for-profit equivalents. I’m reminded of that when I see a local grocery store advertising checker jobs that pay more than my management job. Part of being in the non-profit ghetto is that I cannot afford to have my own place, in the event that I wanted to. But there are non-monetary rewards to my work, even on the most challenging days. So, I feel privileged. Or maybe thankful is the word I am looking for.

Attribution: based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University

My current reading includes Paul Farmer’s brilliant Pathologies of Power; his work explores systemic injustice and its effects on the poor, especially in terms of basic human rights. Farmer has lived and worked as a physician in Haiti among the poor for over twenty years, and his vision of Latin America is piercing. The dehumanization of neoliberal thought, which has been blamed by many in Latin America for the increase in suffering and poverty, is one of his many well-articulated insights.

Farmer shows how neoliberal thinking ultimately constructs society as a machine and people as simply component parts; they are assigned value based on their production and contribution to this system, and there is no place for the poor. Furthermore, the “bottom line” triumphs over ethical concerns. This portrait shows capitalism at its cruelest and most oppressive, utterly unconcerned over the effects of globalization on the poor.

The US has been responsible for much political and economic suffering in Latin America, funding repressive governments, arming terrorists, enforcing trade embargoes, and, in terms of corporations, callously coming and going in search of ever-cheaper labor so that wealthier North Americans can continue their orgy of materialism. Urbanization in Latin America has brought with it stratospheric unemployment rates and social unrest. An El Salvadoran bishop pointed out that poverty has increased in his country through the presence of multinational corporations, despite the fact that they offer employment. The reason for this is that inflation bursts into bloom when a multinational corporation impacts an economy, and prices rise to the point that people can no longer afford electricity and food. Another problem is that such corporations contribute to economic instability by their refusal to negotiate any sort of contract with governments. If they find a cheaper labor source, they pack up and move. For people who have left their village land to seek employment in urban centers, this is devastating, and they have no recourse.

Given this suffering that we, in the national sense, are responsible for, should there be so much frenzy over illegal immigration? We, after all, are in many ways the cause of the poverty, suffering, and unrest in Latin America.

What I do know is that last night as I knelt during the Good Friday service at my parish, I thought about what a travesty it is that the Reserved Sacraments denote sacraments that have already been consecrated, not a better kind of wine. But I also thought about this celebration of the central event in the Christian tradition, the passion, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Putting aside where you stand on the literal event, it is a rather highly symbolic and hope-giving concept. I say hope because most of us will at one point or another experience suffering and pain, and to believe that a better life can come out of them can be comforting. Sometimes, at least.