"I am a person of power"
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I was asked how I see this playing out and what it means to be cognizant of it in my daily life. That’s a very good question. I honestly feel lame talking about it because it puts the focus on me and what *I’m* doing but I’ll take on the question anyway, since someone asked.

Why am I a person of power?

First of all, I am not poor. I’m not middle class but I’m not poor - which puts me at a distinct disadvantage in many areas but certainly does not exempt me from being a person of power.

Second, I am white and I am a “native” of this country.

Third, I am of a majority faith position. As a Christian am actually in the majority.

Finally, I am not a minority in any other area - I’m straight, I do not have a physical or mental disability and I’m educated…not a college degree but I did receive a very good education through high school and since then have had many opportunities for learning that have equipped me in areas of theology and in my freelance work.

In those ways, I am a person of power in this country. Don’t get me wrong, as a woman and post evangelical I have certainly felt otherwise. And looking at all the churchy conference promotions out right now, I certainly do feel like a minority - - a female leader in the Christian world - - but I don’t deceive myself for a second, I am still a POP (person of power).

I think I also have the advantage of being at a disadvantage in some areas - it leads to empathy to a very small degree. I did not receive a college education in part because I could not afford it. My family was too rich for me to receive gov’t aid and too poor to pay for my education. We live almost hand to mouth in our family. We have enough for the basics and many luxuries but we are of the lower-middle class bracket where one medical crisis could land us on the street. I am a woman in a “man’s world” - namely, the church world but also in America, men still dominate almost everything.

But back to the issue at hand - how this plays out in my daily life is a fantastic question and a challenge. Here are 3 examples of things I have done.

1. I have put myself in places where I am the minority. An example is attending PFLAG meetings (parents and family of lesbians and gays). I am straight and do not have close family or friends who are gay or lesbian so in this group, I am the minority. So I put myself in this place to learn, to grow, to have my “issues” revealed to me to face them and to deal with them, to be vulnerable and to shut my mouth to give voice to the other.

2. I am working with organizations that give voice to those who have none. The homeless, the homebound and those with HIV are the groups I’m working with right now.

3. I would like to figure out how to use my power to empower people of color in our city but I haven’t figured that one out yet. The one area I have chosen to enter into is the international student population which is quite large here. We live across the street from international student family housing and David and I work as tutors there, helping ESL students with their homework. I am trying to find a way to use this more than just “helping them” and hopefully, after this next school year I’ll figure that out a bit.

The reason why I left my previous post pretty open is because I don’t think I have the answers necessarily. I just want to provoke some thought on the issue…as someone on “both sides of the issue” as it were.



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