Society takes things too seriously. A controversial argument, yes, but we need to take things ‘for real’. The current world we live in is full of uncertainty, fake news and conflict. While we watch from our televisions and our screens about war, corruption, oppression, dictators and conflict, we forget to realise that we come from a place of real privilege.
When one says the word privilege, we often think of those at the very top of our society- the elites whose nine-figure net worths hold not just huge value, but profound influence and power. Now imagine a child, born on the opposite end of this spectrum, anchored by the utter cruelty of poverty. They spend their days scrounging for food and water, forced into labour to earn whatever money they can to support their family. In this state of pure suffering, they no longer use money for material goods, they use it as a defensive shield against the raining arrows of death, disease, war and suffering. Therefore, privilege does not mean having a multi million dollar mansion, but privilege means having the luxury of living comfortably, enjoying life, and children can live without the constant fear of death chasing them. So the next time someone asks “Are you for real? Why should I care?”, remind them that the luxury of asking that question displays proof of their privilege.
But perhaps, the beauty of living in ubiquitous uncertainty about what is real and what is fake, is that it allows us to analyse, to think deeper and to question the world around us. Perhaps the questions are the answers to our problems. Why do we have such a big wealth gap in society? Why does the human race consistently fail to stop wars? Why can’t we mitigate the effects of climate change? We need to realise as a collective whole, that in order to combat these global crises, we must reject apathy and ignorance, just because it does not directly affect us, but instead think as a collective. Because, in the end, no matter what race, background or age you are, there is one common factor; we are all human. Questions such as, “Are you for real? Why should I care?” are the questions that are making us regress as a society. Instead we should be asking ourselves “Are you for real? What can I do to help?”, because, some day, we need to look past the divisions that separate us, because in order to make progress on these issues, we need to break the barriers that only distract us from the real problems.