In fiction success comes to those who work hard for it. In reality success comes to those who can afford to work hard for it; that is the privilege.
If you look through your cynical goggles you’ll likely understand that it’s much easier to see people succeeding when their balance has never been read with a minus sign upon it. It’s not money that can make you successful, but it’s certainly a catalyst for any hard working person—the privilege of a lesser-debt existence is a large slice of the privilege of success.
On the topic of success it’s hard to write objectively when I too have felt the warm embrace of privilege, aiding me in my studies. I would call my success an achievement of my own, but I should be an idiot to think that the path I took would be allowed to be taken by any person. I would be mercilessly ignorant if I pretended not to see that many peoples success (or therefore lack of) was merely just to do with the quality of work that they had the ability to produce.
I was privileged to have support. Financial support, emotional support and educational support. Financially, I had the ability to speak to my parents and ask them to give the minimum I needed to focus on my education and not have to take a term-time job, otherwise taking time away from my education; this isn’t an option many have and is an option I gritted my teeth to ask of them, but my privilege was that this option was not just a possibility but also available.
Emotionally, I had taken a huge undertaking that was supported by all who I care for and all who care for me, a network of support that all didn’t know existed, that most didn’t have and few actually had. I had a hard working partner living with me and a supportive family that weren’t using their stigma of an arts education against me—something that wasn’t as common as you’d hope when encountering adults, parented by adults. It’s surprising how juvenile beings of forty plus earth years can be.
Money, clearly is a privilege but in the world of employment there is no greater foot up than being white, never-mind also being male. Neither of these are factors that I or my extended family could control, but none-the-less it certainly could influence my life and my success. To spend your existence feeling guilty for your race and for your gender is futile but to pretend to not see the privilege—you may as well gorge your eyes out for gross stupidity.
For someone like myself who has encountered such great privilege, there is both a knowledge that just as people find much less than myself; there are others who swim in vast amounts more. I find myself not feeling guilty for the opportunities I’ve had for I do not take them for granted, I understand the weight they hold and the rarity of their existence—to be ignorant of this is to be content with the injustice of privilege.
I unknowingly sat on a great hill of mounted privileges, being white, male and of financial comfortability. None of these things directly gave me a job over any of the others, but they certainly did not hinder my chances. The privilege I have is that almost all variables for success, were open and allowed me to do so. To have success is a privilege and privilege does not guarantee success—there is only failure when you disregard the privilege you have.
In the general scale, locally I held a large quantity of ‘Formula P’ but, on a global scale any person who studied with me held a cornucopia of Formula P compared to the rest of the world. I am the stereotypical designer by race and by gender, allowing for great privilege but to even be able to read this internet-based text means that your veins run with fluid ounces of Formula P compared to the blood flow of a large preparation of this earth. You lucky bugger.
