Authored By davidamartin423

Seven years ago, I uttered the stupidest thing I’ve said in my life. And that’s saying something because I’ve rattled off a litany of boneheaded comments in my time-just ask anyone who’s spent more than five minutes with me.

In 2007, I was a fresh-out-of-training family service worker for Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services, a job that was the closest thing to military service I’ve ever done. Anyway, a co-worker was completing her master’s degree in social work, and part of a project was to survey some of her peers.

One of the last questions she asked me was something like, “Do you feel like you had a privileged upbringing?”

I kid you not: I said no.

That response, which jumped from my mouth before I’d given it much thought, was a product of my very narrow appreciation of the world, filtered through nothing more than my own personal experiences. My abrupt answer was based on thinking along the lines of, “I mean, how could I be that privileged if I went to private high school only because my mother taught there, so my tuition was reduced?” and “How could I be that privileged if other kids drove Range Rovers and BMWs while I drove a hand-me-down ’83 Volvo?”

Laughably ridiculous, I know.

Two things led me to change my answer quickly. The first was the sound of my co-worker’s jaw hitting the floor, and the second was the near-immediate realization of where I was employed and the unfortunate scenarios I was encountering every day in the field.

Without a doubt, my profile is the most privileged profile in the history of planet earth: white, college-educated American male.

There’s no escaping that truth, and there really shouldn’t be any need to debate that reality. As one of my favorite comedians, Louis C.K., said, “If you’re white and you don’t admit that it’s great, you’re an [email protected]%*)#!.” Sure, there are probably about 1,500 ways to say that more eloquently, but I think he captures the point pretty well. Society today is marked by a substantial privilege imbalance.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of months, you’re likely aware of the Check Your Privilege phenomenon that’s been bouncing around the Internet-it’s probably had a great television presence, as well, but I don’t have cable and “Rick Steves’ Europe” is the only show I can pick up through my digital antenna.

The whole craze apparently started years ago somewhere in the Ivy League world (where else?) as a way to remind students about social disparities and the importance of being ever-mindful of how those inequalities shape the world we live in.

In April, a student at Princeton wrote what became a controversial piece in the school newspaper, unapologetically defending the origins of his privilege. While the national media aired his op-ed, Buzzfeed published a survey called “How Privileged Are You?” and the masses engaged in a pop-conversation about unfairnesses inherent to American life. The matter spurred countless commentaries this spring, and an endless hashtag campaign-#CheckYourPrivilege-gives the discussion continued momentum.

I argue that although the original point of the Check Your Privilege movement holds value, the current conversation has gone off the rails. As another Princetonian recently wrote, “The phrase has become a weapon rather than a reminder.” It no longer urges people to reflect. Instead, it is used as an insult, which is the most unproductive approach to conversation.

And as disheartening as that is, the most discouraging thing about the course of the Check Your Privilege discussion is that it has become extremely divisive and also marginalizes all the good that exists in this society of ours.

I think it’s high time we look at each other and say, “Check your blessings.”

What a blessing it is that we live in a country where masked drug cartel gunmen don’t behead elected officials in their sleep. What a blessing it is that we don’t have to worry about hundreds of our schoolgirls being kidnapped by militants who will sell them into slavery. What a blessing it is that no woman in America will be flogged and hanged because of her love and religion.

Did you see the article last weekend about this year’s valedictorian at the Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy? If not, you’re missing out. What a blessing that we live in a country where Guilda Xiloj’s story is possible. Or what about Griffin Furlong in Florida? The young man went from being homeless to graduating first in his class. While these two graduates put into perspective how much the cards were stacked in my favor at birth, they also make me grateful that our society can help produce these incredibly uplifting stories.

It’s a beautiful thing to consider that we live in a time and place where anyone (yes, I mean anyone) can escape the bonds of disadvantage that they were born into. We live in a country where even the most underprivileged child can become a high school valedictorian, get a scholarship to Princeton (graduating debt-free), remind their fellow students to check their privilege and then land a high-paying job almost anywhere they want. Yes, it’s ironic. And yes, it’s beautiful.

If you’re reading this, chances are someone is more privileged than you for any number of reasons. Chances are also very strong that you have a lot of blessings in your life.

While writing this column, I went to Twitter and scrolled through the #CheckYourPrivilege cache. It seemed endless. I then looked up #CheckYourBlessings. In the entire history of Twitter, there is only one entry with that hashtag. I think we can do better than that.

That would be a hashtag campaign I could get behind.

David Allen Martin is a civic engagement advocate who teaches United States history at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. You should follow him on Twitter if you enjoy completely random posts. The opinions expressed in this column belong solely to the author, not Nooga.com or its employees.