Let’s discuss a touchy subject, privilege and most importantly, what to do with it! Look, I’m able to afford decent food, create plant based recipes, got the opportunity to take some years off to undergo intensive therapy, I’m able to practice yoga and even follow a teacher training and I was born in a quite peaceful country. I would consider myself very privileged, which doesn’t take away the fact that we all need food and that without the therapy I probably wouldn’t be alive or that yoga is a great practice. It’s just that not everyone is able to live this way, which honestly shouldn’t even be a thing.

We all deserve a safe and loving environment, healthy and sustainable food and the freedom and opportunity to pursue our dreams, sadly this isn’t the case. The sad fact is, that we live in a world which is in a constant state of war, where people are starving to death, while others throw away their food, and where equality is something we have to almost fight for to achieve. 

It’s easy to start feeling guilty for the privilege you might have, I’ve been there as well, and sometimes still am, but honestly it shouldn’t. Being privileged could be an amazing gift to those who aren’t, depending on the way you use it. Only creating delicious recipes with the occasional use of some foreign or elusive and expensive products is not going to add anything for anyone but myself and maybe those fortunate enough to try these recipes. And although I try to stay away from this and mostly share plant-based recipes which are accessible to most this it’s still not taking full advantage of my privilege. 

This is one of the reasons I started “beyond the kitchen” as a place where I could spread awareness and share more about important subjects such as mental disease and in this case privilege (I’ll also share some more yoga related posts sometime soon), all of this to spread the things that make my life a little more happy. This is also the reason why I’d love to give free yoga classes in communities where people might not be able to afford it or cook meals for people.

Feel free to check out the awesome work that is done to support those starving in Somalia. Something for Somalia.

What is comes down to is that those of us privileged should do the best we can to help those who aren’t. Wether this means joining a black lives matter protest, sending food to Africa or feeding the homeless, try to take advantage of the tools we’ve got because the money hungry and power thirsty world leaders aren’t going to do it for us, and no I’m not going to drop names. 

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” – African Proverb. 

We should Unite, and share our gifts with our brothers and sisters. Of course you need to take good care of yourself first if you even want to be able to help anyone else. But those of us who do life a privileged life, we should share our privilege with all those who need it. 

Look I’m not swimming in money, I hardly ever buy anything besides food because it is all I can afford in this moment, but one thing I do have which many others don’t is an opportunity. An opportunity to build something successful for myself and my family and I’ll be damned if I wouldn’t share this! Besides providing for other we might also be privileged by being able to contribute to the health of our environment and society. No matter how big or how small your contribution, let’s focus on what we can share, to improve our society and planet.

Now don’t get me wrong! I’m not telling you that you’re privileged or that you have to give up everything if you are. All I’m saying is that even though you might not be discriminated against, you could still support the black lives matter movement or support women’s rights. Or that even though you might not be homeless or starving you could try and help those who are. Maybe all you can do is occasionally help to make soup for the homeless, or teach a yoga class to those who can’t afford it, it really doesn’t matter what you do, as long as we use our privilege for something worth while.

What is comes down to is taking full advantage of our privileges so we’ll be able to create a world where hunger, war, oppression and constant states of fear are no longer a thing. You could own a castle with 20 rooms, while only using two, why not share the remaining rooms with those without a home?

For those privileged enough, let us make great use of this privilege.

One Love,

A.J.