I’m privileged. There, I said it. Not many of us want to acknowledge that out loud (or in this case, in writing), but I think it’s incredibly important that more of us start doing so.

This week I was accepted to do summer research at one of the world’s best institutions for my field of interest. As at other times I have achieved something, my friends will probably say, “Congrats. You deserve it.” Or, “That’s great. You’ve worked so hard to get here.” And I could respond, as I do too often, with a pretense of humility. I could tell myself, “Yes, that’s true! Haven’t I worked when others were having fun? Haven’t I gone the extra mile?” While those things are somewhat true, in reality that’s only half the story. Much less than half, actually, because if I’m being honest my success has less to do with my hard work than with the circumstances that I have been born into.

I am privileged because I was raised in a family that supported me and was able to provide for me at every step. They encouraged me to pursue an education, and, growing up, I always knew I would go to college. I never doubted that I would have the means to attend college – perhaps not at any institution I wanted to attend, but I knew that my family could afford to send me to certain universities – much less had to worry about getting a job to help pay the bills. Because of this, I was able to concentrate on my studies in high school. I also had the opportunity to go to a great school district with many resources and excellent teachers. I got good grades, and through this I received a position as a paid research assistant in a lab during my first semester of college.

Since I started research early, I had more time than most to get experience in the lab. Thanks largely to excellent mentorship from the graduate student I worked with and the professor whose lab I was placed in, I applied for summer research positions and a prestigious scholarship during my sophomore year. I almost certainly would not have applied for these without a great deal of encouragement from my mentors. Consequently, last year I got a research position at a great lab at the National Institutes of Health and eventually won the scholarship I had applied for, putting me in a good position this year to get another summer research opportunity.

So you see, the story of my summer research opportunity is not a story of merit, but of privilege. I probably got this opportunity over many who have worked hard but have not had the privileges I enjoyed growing up. In fact, most of what I have today is because I have been privileged by favorable circumstances and invaluable help from others. Only a fraction of any success I have achieved is because of my hard work.

Because I’m a Christian, I can take this concept of privilege one step further: I’m not simply indebted to kind people or pure luck – I am indebted to the overwhelming grace of a great God.

So now the question is, what will I do with this privilege? I no longer want to ignore the role it has had in my life, but I also do not want to wallow in guilt over something I have been freely given. Instead, I want to advocate for those who haven’t had this privilege. I want to be part of bringing God’s grace to them, as others have done for me. And I want to listen. I want to listen to the stories of others who have had backgrounds I can’t imagine. I no longer want to miss out on their stories because of hasty judgments; rather, I want to rejoice in how far God has brought them despite coming from less privileged circumstances.

Will you choose to come alongside me and use your privilege for the common good rather than for your personal gain?

Many of these thoughts stemmed from Christena Cleveland’s Urbana15 talk on “The Priesthood of the Privileged”, which you can listen to here.

This was originally posted on another blog which I share with my fiance (no longer maintained)