7 minute read
Vet Privilege Project
Vet Privilege Project
Advertisement
After these words of wisdom I’d like to invite my readers to take a moment and reflect on their privileges, come up with their own questions and maybe think about those as well:
Where do you stand in the world? (Literally and figuratively, pay attention to your surroundings and environment, be aware). Have you ever been targeted by violence in some way due to intolerance, to your gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, physical appearance or economic class? How has the history of the world, of your countrymen and family influenced your current position? Which of these privileges come as heritage? Does everyone in the world or even in your city have access to the same opportunities as you do? Is all of that fair? Would you like to trade places with others if you were granted the chance? Why is that so? How could YOU better other people’s lives with whatever powers were granted to you? How many strangers have you talked to on a deep level in the last month? And in the last year? How about the last five years then? When was the last time that you made someone’s life
better in some way by helping them out and you could sense their gratitude in such intensity that you even got a bit shocked, because to you, it didn’t even seem like it was that big a deal?
To me those are just some of the reflections that the PRIVILEGE project of SCoW can provoke. Just how aware are we of the reality of others and how much does it contrast with our own? By exploring the various questions that come up and also the answers on how one moves and acts to bring change to the world, I believe greater clarity, conscience and empathy can be achieved.
I’m pleased to tell you that giving is better than receiving (there have even been scientific studies that showed that spending money to others´ benefit made the spenders happier than spending it on
themselves – “REALLY??? Show me the STUDY!!!” [INSERT JERRY MCGUIRE GIF YELLING ON THE PHONE]. I got you ;) - Dunn, Elizabeth W., Lara B. Aknin, and Michael I. Norton. "Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness." Science 319, no. 5870 (March 21, 2008): 1687– 1688), but money isn’t the only thing that one can give.
It can be as simple as giving a sincere smile with a nod on the hallway, a warm greeting such as a “hey, how have you been”, the classic “How was your day?”, its hipster cousin “What are you up to?” or even the lazy contemporary "SUP?". Anyway you have it, I bet everyone has probably experienced joy in getting a text
notification of an interested someone. If not, DM SCoW on IG and I’m sure they’ll find a way to change that! So if you think about it, bringing light to the world can be as simple as sending a meme or my personal favorite media form, a GIF along with a little comment, joke or emoji. It doesn’t take much to make a difference in somebody’s life. Or it can mean taking charge on some really big project that impacts the lives of many. However, it is a process and just like Rome, which wasn’t built on one day it won’t happen overnight, so take a first step cause the way you do anything is the way you do everything.
Bauman said that society is becoming more and more liquid by the day and that the current ideology states that social relationships are as disposable as a plastic cup after a happy meal. But we are reaching a point where the oceans can’t take anymore plastic cups and human bonds shouldn’t be so disregarded as well. And mainly, I think that we’re probably old enough to not order happy meals anymore, are we not???
Privilege: a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group.
When speaking on privilege it’s easy to get lead astray, so taking a humble posture and listening to what others have to say, like in all things in life, will make you better understand the world and the multiple realities that people experience. So, the time has come to speak of my privilege per se. Well, some of them
include being born and raised in the most economically developed region of Brazil and next to one of the biggest cities in the world - São Paulo. Having access to a good quality internet connection, to technology improvements, to other languages tutoring from a young age and to good enough schooling, unlike many others, can be deemed a privilege. Just as much as being encouraged to read books and exercise both mentally as physically from as early as I can remember, combined with having access to a public library system within walking distance and to an outdoors life on public parks. Not having to worry about nourishment, shelter, healthcare, access to potable water, an efficient sewage system and to quality wholesome foods. Being encouraged to study at a public university, preferably one of the three giants of our state that are also the best ones in the country and are even among the top ones in the world: University of São Paulo, in which I currently study, São Paulo State University or University of Campinas.
“Anyone can be your teacher at something if you’re humble enough to listen and observe”, were words I was taught early on. My whole self is not my free own independent creation, the seeds that make me who I am today were sown by others (family, mentors, friends, authors of books or even internet figures) and helped to define even what I believed to be possible for my life’s work. I’ve had access to different ideas and had enough
drive and time to read, think, digest and understand them better. I’ve taken the time to talk to many others. To stop and ask questions to people which stood out me in some way in the midst of concentrating to listen closely and trying to obtain some wisdom from it. I’m very grateful for all the opportunities my parents struggled for to provide me with and for all the opportunities I now have access to as a student at FMVZ USP. I believe privilege is a double-edged sword, it may make your life easier in many aspects and whether it's fair or not put you miles ahead many others, but it may also make you soft and unfit to surpass the many difficulties and
challenges in life. As they say in the military, “we don’t rise to the occasion; we fall back to the level of our training”. With that being so, I think of myself as being privileged for not taking things for granted. Consciously recognizing the many “tiny” miracles like the very fact that I can see, hear, feel, taste, smell, love, have mental clarity to think. All those things are AMAZING and rare are the people who find time to acknowledge and be grateful for those “little” but priceless capabilities. I’m privileged to have become more, to have exposed myself to different ideas, people, experiences, partaken of different projects and expanded my horizons for the skills that come from experiencing life in its fullest diversity. To me this makes a difference in being able to understand people and the world in a more realistic manner.
My goal is to help connect people and to act as a catalyst to the development, planning and execution of projects that benefit values that I believe in, that is the driving force to the usage of my privileges. “Tenho apenas duas mãos e o sentimento do mundo” meaning “I have only two hands and the sentiment of the world” said Carlos Drummond de Andrade, a Brazilian poet. So my advice is: put them to good use. Good luck on your adventures and farewell to all.
