I'm sorry.
Anyone who knows me knows I utter those
two words far more than is probably humanly healthy. Ordinarily, it
tends to be about stupid things that I needlessly beat myself up over
(since apparently while self love comes easily to adult me, I still
have a tendency of holding myself to a ridiculously high standard).
Tonight however, I'm saying it because I think I've finally had the
concept of social responsibility driven home for me.
Before I continue, I'd like to
reiterate that I have always had an understanding of this concept on
an intellectual and moral level. I've always understood that it is
the responsibility of those who do well by society's various
standards to help those that do not. On a moral level, I've also
always believed that while an individual member of a traditionally
oppressive group may not hold any personal guilt in how the oppressed
are treated by his or her peers, they do hold a responsibility as a
representative of that group to at least attempt to make things
better.
The thing is...as much as I say
truthfully that I've always understood this, I don't think I've
gotten it
more than I do tonight.
My
lovely girlfriend this weekend embarked on what I've been told was an
epic trip to the small northern town she calls home for the
annual Pride festivities. As a fellow activist and believer in
equality, my thrill at her going was only matched by my
disappointment that I could not also be there fighting the good
fight. The weekend was filled with fun and inspiring celebrations of
diversity in all its forms, but one speaker in particular gave me
knots in my stomach and almost made me tear up when my partner told
me about it.
The
speaker in question was a transgendered individual who transitioned
from female to male. Anyone familiar with such things knows how
difficult that can be, and how unaccepting society can still be to
what many consider the most misunderstood and misrepresented members
of the LGBTQ community. Apparently, the man spoke with much courage
and light about his dark past and the difficult journey he faced in
coming to terms with who he was. One period he mentioned that was
especially dark was his time in middle school. Now, as I've said
before, I also had dark times during that period of my life, but
nothing I or many have been through can compare to the challenge of
coming out as transgendered. This speaker mentioned how he had been
bullied not only by peers but also by the administration at the
school...in particular one principal who made his life a living hell.
The
kicker here is, he went to middle school at one of the schools a certain family member of mine was principal at, during the very time she worked there.
When
I realized this, my stomach contorted in disgust and I proceeded to
apologize profusely to my girlfriend. For her part, she was amazing
and consoled me, telling me I could not control the actions of my
family members. It was at that point that I came face to face with
the concept of social responsibility. The fact remained that while,
yes, I could not be held personally responsible for the actions of a
member of my family (and thus could not and should not share the
guilt), I do share in the responsibility for the situation because we
are both representatives of our family.
I
know what you are going to say dear reader, because its an argument
that has been used time and again in similar situations involving racism, sexism and countless other judgmental isms. “You shouldn't
take the blame for something that someone else did because you didn't
do it yourself!” The thing is, this statement is both correct and
incorrect. To understand how that's possible, one has to understand
how we are all impacted by privilege in various forms. If you are a
member of a traditionally privileged group, whether it be being male,
straight, white, or any other state of existence that gives you an
elevated status in the eyes of society, then while you are not guilty
for the crimes of your fellow members of that group who may lack your
level of enlightenment, you are nonetheless responsible for their
actions.
Consider
this example. I work for a medium-sized telecom company. Like most
companies, the cost-service ratio is a mixed bag, and we naturally
don't do well by 100% of our customers. When someone comes up to me
at my workplace with a ridiculously high bill or another beef with
some policy instituted by my superiors, the first thing they see is
yours truly wearing his company uniform and standing behind the
counter. In that moment, while I am not at fault for the particular
policy that the customer has called into question, I am still
responsible for at least attempting to help the customer in some way
since I am still a representative of my company. Many people
intuitively understand this in a retail or employment context, but
find it more difficult to apply the same reasoning to issues of
social justice because quite simply, it hurts to think that someone
we may be connected to did something bad, and we don't want to be
saddled with the guilt because gosh darn it, we are good people!
This, dear friends, is emotion talking. Logically, the same argument
applies in both situations.
So,
to the awesome-sounding transgendered man who gave the truly
inspiring talk at small-town Pride, I am terribly, humbly sorry from
the bottom of my heart. In fairness, I don't know exactly what
happened during those years, nor could I ever hope to understand how
it must have felt. I will say that the member of my family in question is by no means an
evil person, and has made great strides in terms of acceptance and belief in equality, but we are all of us human and prone to making mistakes
and letting the dark sides of our nature through. I will not make
excuses for her or anyone else, but I will take responsibility as a
privileged member of the same family and say that I do apologize for
what you may have gone through. While I have no doubt that the
awesome person you have now become is due to both good and bad times,
as is true for all of us, no one should ever have to endure that. You
are awesome and beautiful just by virtue of being a human on this
planet, and the fact that you have come through with such light just
enhances your awesomeness by a factor of a billion. One human to
another, even if I've never met you, I just want to say that dude?
You rock!
I
realize this post is not directly related to neurodiversity, but I
think the underlying message is an important one for us all to
consider. Every word, action and thing that comes from us directly
impacts those around us. We must be vigilant and remember that, in
the words of Uncle Ben from Spider-Man, “with great power comes
great responsibility.” I am sure that my family member never intended
to have such a negative impact, just as I am sure than many who are
part of a privileged group do not intentionally want to seem arrogant
as they attempt to wash their hands of the mistakes of their
ancestors and fellow members. Unfortunately, it is rarely that
simple. If it was, we would not have many of the complex social
justice issues we now face as a society. While we do need to move
onward and upward and leave the past behind us, we must also
recognize that moving past the guilt often does and should involve
embracing the responsibility of cleaning up the mess and putting the
pieces back together. It's not an easy journey to make, but one I
believe every member of our species capable of doing.
After
all, if we want to build that better world, its where we need to
start.
Yours
in diversity,
Adam
Michael
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