Privilege isn’t about telling someone they have a good life because of a certain skin tone or orientation. Everyone has a shitty, fucked up life. It’s just that your life could be even more fucked up.

Take someone who is male, white, cis, heterosexual, and able-bodied. Now let’s say their situation is not great. Maybe their home life is terrible, so you are never going to convince this person that they have it easy, because they do not. But they should understand that on top of this one large problem, they could have many more. They could make the situation even more complex by being trans; on top of having to deal with a shitty home life, they also have to juggle what being trans means— the depression and anxiety of it. Then add another layer to it. Say they’re also gay. They now have to deal with homophobia. Add another layer. They are no longer able-bodied, and have to deal with that adjustment.

And this goes beyond white, hetero, cis privilege. There are so many things we take for granted. Assuming you are reading this yourself, it means you are literate. Be grateful you were born in a place that has access to the internet. Be grateful you lived to (hopefully) be old enough to sign up for Tumblr.

Privilege shouldn’t be about guilt. It should be about realizing your life could be a lot fucking worse and wanting to make other people’s lives equally privileged. These privileges are great, and our lives should be about making everyone privileged as well. Let everyone be privileged enough to not face racism, sexism, or whatever bias there is under the sun. Let everyone be privileged enough to afford to take the time to waste their lives on a stupid site.

So right now, the fates aligned to guarantee you some form of luck, and it is definitely your right to appreciate it. You are allowed to be happy that there is some way that you don’t suffer. But then think about how much worse your life could be without it, and realize that’s the situation many people out there have to deal with.

Strive to share that privilege with someone else. Strive to make the privileges unique to white privilege something every race enjoys. Make male privilege “human privilege.” Make everyone privileged.

ps if you don’t try to make someone else’s life better (even if you can’t afford time/money you can at least be fucking polite to someone) you are a fucking tool and deserve to feel guilty over that.