You are privileged, Own It.
I should start by stating that you are privileged. We all are, it’s just relative. I have thought long and hard about the privileges that I have enjoyed, and the repercussions I might face for accepting it and declaring it publicly but it is mine and I have learned to own it. Acknowledging your privilege is the first step to owning it. Consequently, owning it enables you to make the most of it.
Privilege is that thing we all have but we all try to deny.
Some people were born into privilege, some grew into it, others got it for themselves. I’d say I am of the last category but since privilege is relative, I can say I enjoyed some level of privilege in all three categories. “Without a silver spoon”?, I was born without a spoon. My parents were teenagers so I spent most of my childhood with grandparents and relatives in the village. I’d struggle to eat from one plate with six other boys, the only younger one being my little brother, but I had food to eat, albeit with my hands, and I had a roof over my head even though I slept on a local mat (that someone would wet every night!). Some kids…actually, a lot of kids can’t say they had a meal or a local mat to sleep on, not then (the late 90s) and not now. I was privileged!
My dad was one of the first people to own a business center in Bayelsa, he owned the biggest at the time, so I grew up into a somewhat successful home. At this point, I had a silver spoon. I attended the best schools, went on weekend outings, ate on my own plate, had my own pocket money, I was certainly privileged. Going to those schools, the exposure, the competition, the lifestyle, and etiquettes all contributed to who I am today. He was no Dangote but the things he could and he did for me, a lot wouldn’t be able to do for their children despite how much they try. I was privileged!
In 2014, I traveled to the US on a state-sponsored scholarship. One of sixteen students selected out of over five thousand six hundred (5,600) applicants. Without a doubt, I don’t think I would have made it without the education my dad could afford for me years earlier. My privilege had started paying off. On my return in 2017, I enjoyed far much more privilege than I envisioned possible. Having a first-class degree (3.94/4.0) from the US does put some respect on your name. That coupled with the fact that you were selected as best of the best to go there in the first place. People are more open to listening to your ideas, your advice (right or wrong), and respect you a little more. I met people I wouldn’t have met otherwise, was invited to meetings I couldn’t dream of attending before I traveled, my contact list got significantly more expensive. I can now say, “it’s not the phone, it’s the contacts on the phone that I lost that’s upsetting me”. Lies, losing any phone will upset me, my contacts are on Google and iCloud.
Out of obligation, I agreed to go for NYSC sometime after I returned to Nigeria. I wasn’t prepared for the level of privilege I would enjoy as a result of my experience and resume. In camp, we got a special unit to register us because we were international students. AWESOME!!! Nothing beats the feeling of “jumping” line legally. I’m an awfully quiet person in public so it is easy for people to talk over me or try to force their ideas on me but that only works until I start talking. I was posted to state A but had an organization in state C organize a transfer for me because my services were needed there. I smell privilege. There were complications and I had to return to state A a couple of months later. I was posted to another organization for the remainder of my service year. If you’ve gone for service, you’d know how rare and lucky you have to be for an organization to pay you and offer you housing, well they did and I turned it down. My love for freedom and remote work would be the end of me.
An unspoken rule for NYSC is that first-class students serve in higher institutions, so I told my then boss that I will only remain with them if they pay me and allow me to work from home else I will report to the council and tell them that I have a first-class. She agreed, right after she said she had seen this level of boldness before; in her son who studied in Canada. When I tell people how I spent my time during my NYSC days, they think I did the usual but they do not know that I really just asked. I had the experience, the skills…the ability (privilege) to make such a demand and see it happen.
I continue to enjoy the privilege of an American degree to this day. IELTS? What is that? Transcript evaluation? What are you talking about? And yes, under a lot of circumstances I can plead for a GRE waiver due to my first degree. An American degree has given me an amplified voice, it has allowed me into places I would otherwise not be able to get into, it has served as a “leg through the door” mechanism. This is not to say I don’t work hard when I have used my privilege, no! Having the privilege gives me the opportunity to prove myself. That opportunity is the difference between being privileged or not in that situation.
I show up and show my ability but most importantly, I make the most use of my privilege at every level and situation. Living in denial about your privilege will only delay or derail you. You don’t have to be the son of a billionaire or a billionaire before you accept that you are privileged.
Privilege is relative, own it and make the most use of yours.
