I am an enthusiastic lover of the holiday season—albeit one who prefers the festivities commence after and only after my birthday on the 9th of December—but this year I, like many others in this region, have felt the guilt of being afforded the certainty that your final weeks in December will feel magical and cozy, and that your bougie New Year’s Eve celebrations, laden with bubbles and fireworks, grant us all an exciting time to start anew.
But while this season is a time full of joy and reflection, this is not everyone’s reality. As I get older, and hopefully a little wiser, I find myself increasingly thinking about privilege, but more so of the mindboggling degree to which the Middle East–where I have called home for 31 years–has been impacted by it lately.
Every day for the past few months we have opened Instagram to an endless scroll of rising death tolls and continued violence. We feel anguished and powerless over the plight of displaced children from war-torn regions like Gaza, constantly reminding us that inequality can exact deadly consequences. Psychologists have warned that people may experience “compassion fatigue”, a type of secondary trauma created by repeated exposure to graphic images. But as we watch these distressing events unfold, through the safety and comfort of our iPhones, we know that we have the privilege of closing social media and limiting our news intake when we feel we’ve consumed too much. Those in less fortunate circumstances, however, do not.
‘‘We have got to fight against privilege,’’ George Orwell wrote (shout-out to English Lit A Level). ‘‘And if the rich squeal audibly, so much the better.’’ These words resonate powerfully today, largely because they compel us to confront our responsibility. They demand that we look closely at our own ignorance and our own power. Privilege is not in and of itself bad; what matters is what we do with privilege.
Via @abeer.m.anabtawi on Instagram
I have a house, I have a job, I have a car, I am able-bodied, and this past year I have travelled not just across the country, but around the world. And so, as we begin 2024 and I reflect on both my acquired and my birth privileges, I feel a profound obligation during such unprecedented and heart-breaking times to remind anyone reading this that we are a critical cog in the wheel of humanity, and we must not give up on those who need us most.
Via @shereen_audi on Instagram
Click here to see more from our 2023 Winter Issue.
Lead image via @shereen_audi on Instagram