Towards Humility
Simple living. Living an abundant life with less.
That is one of the 5 core values of the YAV program.
A few months ago, I would have compared this to the vow of poverty that monks and nuns take. Or at least made some implication that I would be poor for the next year.
How wrong I was. How embarrassed I am to have had that understanding. How could I have been so naive and ignorant, especially considering the research that I did in school?
Poverty isn't something that you temporarily choose to be a part of.
Even though I am receiving a small stipend...
Instead of experiencing poverty for the last 2 months, I have become more and more aware of the privileges that I have. I have so many safety nets and so many support resources that others don't have access to.
My resources are not about what I have accomplished or what I have earned, but about the life that was given to me by my family.
~
Honestly, I could have theoretically told anyone that resources are communal before coming to New Orleans. I could have given facts and statistics and stories about ways that privilege and poverty exist and permeate society.
The privilege that I was born with is a fact of my life; I cannot connect it with a personal moral judgement (i.e. I cannot say that I am a bad person because I am white/cisgendered/straight/etc). For me, the moral aspect comes in when I make a decision of how to respond to the awareness of privilege.
If I'm really honest, I probably thought that I had learned everything about poverty by the time that I graduated. Which is RIDICULOUS.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
I was prideful. I thought that I had nothing left to learn and that I completely understood something that I had never experienced. I am now ashamed of that pride. I had positioned myself as a knower rather than a learner. But when we listen and value those around us, we can learn from anyone.
If I humble myself, I will spend my whole life learning about the depths of my privileges and gaining wisdom from the people around me. But if I am prideful and refuse to listen, I will perpetuate harm on those who God loves.
The exciting part is that though I will never 100% truly understand the extent of my privileges or what it's like to live without them, I don't have to wait until I do to raise awareness among others and try to make a difference. If I waited until I was perfect to take action to change the system, I would be waiting forever.
That is one of the 5 core values of the YAV program.
A few months ago, I would have compared this to the vow of poverty that monks and nuns take. Or at least made some implication that I would be poor for the next year.
How wrong I was. How embarrassed I am to have had that understanding. How could I have been so naive and ignorant, especially considering the research that I did in school?
Poverty isn't something that you temporarily choose to be a part of.
Even though I am receiving a small stipend...
- I have a car to drive to and from anywhere that I want to go.
- I have the resources to evacuate if needed for a hurricane.
- I have a steady and reliable income every 2 weeks.
- My parents can send me the fancy dress that I forgot to bring for the fundraiser and an extra hubcap for the one that fell off my car.
- I can go to counseling regularly because my parents have offered to continue paying for that.
- Another family member offered to pay for me to go to dance regularly because that is an essential aspect of maintaining my mental health.
- I don't have to count each penny that I spend because I have a savings to fall back on, in case I go over my budget.
- When I went to have blood work done and they approved a temporary $200 payment for whatever my insurance wouldn't cover, I didn't have to think about whether I would still have enough credit to buy groceries or gas.
Instead of experiencing poverty for the last 2 months, I have become more and more aware of the privileges that I have. I have so many safety nets and so many support resources that others don't have access to.
My resources are not about what I have accomplished or what I have earned, but about the life that was given to me by my family.
~
Honestly, I could have theoretically told anyone that resources are communal before coming to New Orleans. I could have given facts and statistics and stories about ways that privilege and poverty exist and permeate society.
The privilege that I was born with is a fact of my life; I cannot connect it with a personal moral judgement (i.e. I cannot say that I am a bad person because I am white/cisgendered/straight/etc). For me, the moral aspect comes in when I make a decision of how to respond to the awareness of privilege.
If I'm really honest, I probably thought that I had learned everything about poverty by the time that I graduated. Which is RIDICULOUS.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2
I was prideful. I thought that I had nothing left to learn and that I completely understood something that I had never experienced. I am now ashamed of that pride. I had positioned myself as a knower rather than a learner. But when we listen and value those around us, we can learn from anyone.
If I humble myself, I will spend my whole life learning about the depths of my privileges and gaining wisdom from the people around me. But if I am prideful and refuse to listen, I will perpetuate harm on those who God loves.
He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
Proverbs 3:34
The exciting part is that though I will never 100% truly understand the extent of my privileges or what it's like to live without them, I don't have to wait until I do to raise awareness among others and try to make a difference. If I waited until I was perfect to take action to change the system, I would be waiting forever.
How encouraging it is for me to learn and grow along with you through your experiences. Thank you for blogging.
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