Privilege

Not in the sense that people think about when you hear the words "white privilege" or whatever. I mean this in the more pure sense of the word - that one has the luck or is blessed with or has the opportunity to do something, see something, experience something for whatever reason/circumstance.

A friend has been going through some stuff and I realized that I have the privilege of being there for her. This is not to say that I've been able to do this with all of my friends, nor will this be the case in the future. However, at this juncture in this particular friend's life, I have had the privilege to be there for her, to help her process certain things (however helpful or unhelpful it is...), and to be emotionally available to do so. I feel lucky to be able to do it and it is oddly not a burden at all.

Unfortunately, this is not the case at all for all my friends - I don't know if it's a matter of dissonance with the way we process and think or if it's simply because there are too may factors to overcome for me to be there (physically, mentally, emotionally, etc.) for them but I have not been able to do that for many of my friends. I guess this marks a change in my own maturity (hopefully!) as well as a change in my mentality for what it means to be a good friend.

I don't know where I'm going with this; all I know is that right now, I just feel lucky to be a part of this person's life and I realize that perhaps it is because I care about this person that I'm able to do such things and it feels like a blessing.

I wonder if this is a fraction of what parents feel for their children. Does this explain why they are so willing to go so far for them, when in reality, the returns cannot compare? Not that children are an investment, but there does seem to be a bit of that tit for tat thing with nearly all relationships and parents are so wonderfully giving that nothing really seems to compare with the ideal (or perhaps the over-idealized?) parenting style.

Anyway, I suppose my point is this: instead of looking at certain things as burdens (whether it's something we don't want to do, or something we have to do out of obligation), one can actually turn them around and realize that one is blessed to have the capacity to be able to handle such things or be able to take part in the different cycles of suffering and triumph that makes the reality called life.