The Privilege of Birth
None of us choose where we began. Not our country of birth, our family, our health or our opportunities. If privilege is a lottery, what responsibility comes with the tickets we've been given?
I've sat in luxury hotels and slums. Walked through some of the world's wealthiest cities and some of its poorest villages.
The older I get, the harder it becomes to ignore how much of life is determined by where we begin.
As I sit here now looking across a cyan blue pool and out to a rugged and beautiful coastline, the early morning light glistens on the water and misty clouds cover the dramatic mountains surrounding the bay. Coffee in hand, I plan another trip, craving something more peaceful than the beautiful chaos of the world outside these villa walls.
Simultaneously, I know that outside those walls, there is a mother worrying about feeding her children. Someone is sleeping rough. Someone is living with chronic pain. Someone is caring for a dying parent. Someone is in a war zone.
Trapped in a life they didn't choose.
The Uncomfortable Realisation
I did nothing to earn many of the things that make my life easier. Not my country of birth. Not my health. Not my education. Not my family. Not my opportunities. Not my genetics.
What if privilege isn’t something to be ashamed of or deny, but something to recognise honestly?
The Myth of Self-Made
The modern world loves the self-made narrative. Work harder. Want it more. Manifest it. Hustle.
But every success story is sitting on invisible foundations. Family support. A stable childhood. A passport. A safe country. A healthy body. Good teachers. Good timing. Pure luck.
This doesn’t mean hard work isn’t real. It means hard work is only one part of the story.
The Privileges We Never Notice
The most powerful privileges are often invisible to the people who have them.
Being born in a peaceful country. Growing up with parents who loved you. Having a body that works. Being conventionally attractive. Having confidence. Having people who believe in you. Being able to read. Being able to travel.
Having time to think about purpose and fulfilment because survival is already taken care of.
I didn't grow up in a stable family, but I did have people who loved me. I grew up in a safe country and, while I didn't have the privilege of money, I had more opportunities than many.
I was the result of a chaotic and abusive relationship. The child of a single mother who was trying to make ends meet. Life felt hard. But I learned to fight. I made my own mistakes. And I made my own opportunities.
I watched my mother struggle. I saw her compromises. And I felt them. We couldn't afford what others could. I didn't have the latest clothes. I remember forms coming home for trips and already knowing the answer before I asked.
I learned early not to ask for things.
For years, I found myself navigating worlds of power, wealth and influence. Sometimes consciously. Sometimes not.
The more places I visited, the more people I met, the harder it became to ignore the stark contrast of the privilege of birth.
And with that came a question.
What is the relationship between privilege and responsibility?
The Trap of Comparison
One of the strangest things about privilege is that it disappears. We adjust. The extraordinary becomes normal. The beautiful house becomes too small. The healthy body becomes something to criticise. The career becomes insufficient. The holiday becomes ordinary.
The more we have, the more we focus on what we don’t. Social media amplifies this endlessly. People with extraordinary lives comparing themselves to people with even more extraordinary lives.
Nobody ever arrives.
The Question That Changed Everything
For years I measured my life against people who had more. More money. More influence. More certainty. More success.
But eventually I began asking a different question. Not: Why don't I have more? But: What have I already been given?
Privilege Creates Responsibility
Once you start recognising privilege, it becomes impossible not to ask what responsibility comes with it.
If you've been given a voice, can you use it thoughtfully? If you've been given security, can you help create security elsewhere? If you've been given influence, can you use it wisely?
Is privilege less about what you have and more about what you can give?
Not money alone. Time. Encouragement. Knowledge. Opportunities. Compassion. A helping hand. A different perspective. The courage to speak when others cannot. The willingness to listen when others feel unseen.
Responsibility doesn't always look dramatic. Most of the time it looks small. Sharing knowledge. Opening a door. Making an introduction. Helping someone believe in themselves. Giving encouragement when confidence is running low.
The opportunities that changed my life rarely arrived as grand gestures. They arrived as conversations, introductions and moments when someone chose to help.
The Lottery Ticket
None of us chose our starting point. Life is, in many ways, a lottery.
Some of us hold lottery tickets in places we barely even notice. Others face battles we will never fully understand.
The question is not whether privilege exists. It does. The question is what we choose to do with what we've been given.
It's what we choose to give back.