One of my favorite movies is Ever After, a Cinderella tale set in François I's time of the Renaissance. Just recently, I had the pleasure of seeing the movie again. One scene that I had seen numerous times jumped out at me. Its a conversation between the Cinderella character and the Prince. The two are engaged in a truth or dare game involving "rock, paper, scissors" and its the Prince's turn to confess. He comes out with the fact that he would prefer not to be king when it comes to be his turn. The Cinderella character is taken aback and tells him that he could do wonderful things being in a position to do anything. The line that struck me the most was when she calls him out and tells him that "you were born to privilege and with that comes certain obligation." He is quite inspired by her and decides after reflecting on it that having privilege may not be so bad after all.
What so struck me about this conversation is that many of us are born to privilege, not as this prince was, but in other ways. We were given something that many people in the world weren't. This was ever so apparent when I had the fortune of going to Haiti and working there on a short-term basis. There were some children that came to our children's program that only had a shirt on, no pants, no shoes, no socks, while others were left unclothed. None of the other children thought anything of it because that was normal life for them. Meanwhile, back in the USA, we struggle to put together an ensemble with our 100 clothing items and dozens of shoes. These children would be lucky if they got 1 pair of shoes to go with every stage of growth.
With privilege comes obligation. So, what privilege do you have? What is the obligation attached to it?
1 comment:
Hmm...It's a good question, one that needs answering. Give me some time to think. I'll come back later, if I remember. (I, too, love that movie, and know exactly which scene you are speaking of.)
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