Sigh. I should have known….

 

From my online course, in the first “Discussion forum” section. Slightly edited to protect the privacy of the teacher. (I deleted her sample answers)

This will be the only discussion in which you will not be graded on how well you back up your opinions with information from our readings. Therefore, there are no right answers here. What you will be graded on is how thoroughly you try to engage, and how respectfully you respond to others. Importantly, this introduction post is optional for 1% extra credit. This will be the only extra credit opportunity offered throughout the semester and I do not bump up grades that are close to the cut off because I offer this opportunity. I would strongly advise taking advantage of this early extra credit opportunity in case you need it later to move from a 79% to a 80%, for example.

First, I’d like to start off with introductions. So please introduce yourself to the class! Some points you may want to discuss include:

  • Where you are from 
  • Your preferred name 
  • Your year attending [COLLEGE]
  • Your major 
  • Why you are taking this course 
  • Fun facts 

Next, I’d like you to talk a little bit about privilege, and what your areas of privilege are. This is also in the interest of getting to know a little about the context of our class. We all have areas of privilege (e.g., white privilege, male privilege, able-bodied privilege, etc.) It is important that we are aware of our own sources of privilege, and how they affect the way we interact with the world. For example, in the context of this class, I have educational privilege. That means, in this situation, that the material we read is familiar to me, and the academic style of writing is fairly easy to understand. I don’t have the added burden of trying to get used to a new format of the way information is presented in order to understand that information. Me being aware of my educational privilege helps me to engage with others in a more useful way, instead of assuming that my experiences are the same as everyone else’s, and therefore our reactions to our experiences should be, too.

Why is this important, and what does it have to do with developmental psychology? Let me be clear: the purpose of this is NOT to make us all feel guilty about our privilege; that wouldn’t be useful. Rather, the purpose is that we start each conversation from a place of awareness, which breeds understanding and compassion. We are going to be debating some potentially heated topics in this course. It is REQUIRED that we ALL engage with one another respectfully. I will ask each of you to try and see others’ perspectives, while arguing for your own (in other words, it’s not an “either/or” type of scenario; refusing to look objectively at the other side does not show strength in your argument).

So I have a few options here.

  1. I can skip the optional post and the opportunity for extra credit. Probably the wisest option.
  2. Post some vague word-salad about advantages in life that I am grateful for, and that others might not have (Which is I think what the question is really getting at, albeit in a very “Woke” manner.)
  3. Post about my philosophy of “Privilege.” Not that I have a fully fleshed out philosophy there, but I can at least say that I am a sinful human, who, from my state of depravity, is likely to treat those who are different from her negatively. 
  4. Drop the class and find another online course. (Inconvenient, if not quite difficult, at this point.)

The assignment is due at midnight on Monday.

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  1. Bob Armstrong Thatcher
    Bob Armstrong
    @BobArmstrong

    Literacy, rational thinking, introspection would all seem to be viable sources of privilege per the rubric…

    • #1
  2. EODmom Coolidge
    EODmom
    @EODmom

    Bob Armstrong (View Comment):

    Literacy, rational thinking, introspection would all seem to be viable sources of privilege per the rubric…

    How about good genes – born with good eyesight, good hearing and native immunities. Born to a family that is intact and taught me and demonstrated empathy and humility and respectfulness in engaging with others. Those are both things not within your control. Luck? Privilege? People ought not blame their parents or others for their lives after they are 18, but what the heck – talk about what you started with. Gratitude is never out of style. 

    • #2
  3. Dill Inactive
    Dill
    @Dill

    Bob Armstrong (View Comment):

    Literacy, rational thinking, introspection would all seem to be viable sources of privilege per the rubric…

    I mean, when you start breaking it down, you can have tall privilege (You can reach things on the top grocery shelf) short privilege (You don’t have to bend over to fit in rooms with low ceilings/doorways), people who happen to be wearing a red shirt privilege (you stand out and are therefore less likely to get hit by a car when biking to campus) people who aren’t wearing a red shirt today privilege (Less likely to get killed on Star Trek), ect.

    Any advantage is now a privilege. This is getting ridiculous.

    • #3
  4. Dill Inactive
    Dill
    @Dill

    EODmom (View Comment):

    Bob Armstrong (View Comment):

    Literacy, rational thinking, introspection would all seem to be viable sources of privilege per the rubric…

    How about good genes – born with good eyesight, good hearing and native immunities. Born to a family that is intact and taught me and demonstrated empathy and humility and respectfulness in engaging with others. Those are both things not within your control. Luck? Privilege? People ought not blame their parents or others for their lives after they are 18, but what the heck – talk about what you started with. Gratitude is never out of style.

    Oh, yeah. “Able-bodied privilege” is being discussed in the forum at the moment by several students. I can certainly agree with that one, as well as some people talking about how they grew up in neighborhoods without violence.

     

     

    • #4
  5. Headedwest Coolidge
    Headedwest
    @Headedwest

    EODmom (View Comment):

    Bob Armstrong (View Comment):

    Literacy, rational thinking, introspection would all seem to be viable sources of privilege per the rubric…

    How about good genes – born with good eyesight, good hearing and native immunities. Born to a family that is intact and taught me and demonstrated empathy and humility and respectfulness in engaging with others. Those are both things not within your control. Luck? Privilege? People ought not blame their parents or others for their lives after they are 18, but what the heck – talk about what you started with. Gratitude is never out of style.

    I really like this. You can express gratitude for all the good things that you got in life without using their code words.

    • #5
  6. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    Offer a soliloquy on Blessings and differences in perspective that change our perception of the world and how important it is to make an attempt to understand another’s perspective even if you don’t agree with them.

    And then I’d end with a link to Tauren Wells Hills & Valleys.

    • #6
  7. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    Dill (View Comment):
    Any advantage is now a privilege. This is getting ridiculous.

    It’s the Progressive-Pagan “blessing” and “curse”.

    I think white people are gods in this paradigm.

    • #7
  8. Kephalithos Member
    Kephalithos
    @Kephalithos

    Headedwest (View Comment):

    EODmom (View Comment):

    How about good genes – born with good eyesight, good hearing and native immunities. Born to a family that is intact and taught me and demonstrated empathy and humility and respectfulness in engaging with others. Those are both things not within your control. Luck? Privilege? People ought not blame their parents or others for their lives after they are 18, but what the heck – talk about what you started with. Gratitude is never out of style.

    I really like this. You can express gratitude for all the good things that you got in life without using their code words.

    Seconded. Your professor expects you to self-flagellate. Show gratitude instead. That’ll blow her mind.

    • #8
  9. Dill Inactive
    Dill
    @Dill

    Kephalithos (View Comment):

    Headedwest (View Comment):

    EODmom (View Comment):

    How about good genes – born with good eyesight, good hearing and native immunities. Born to a family that is intact and taught me and demonstrated empathy and humility and respectfulness in engaging with others. Those are both things not within your control. Luck? Privilege? People ought not blame their parents or others for their lives after they are 18, but what the heck – talk about what you started with. Gratitude is never out of style.

    I really like this. You can express gratitude for all the good things that you got in life without using their code words.

    Seconded. Your professor expects you to self-flagellate. Show gratitude instead. That’ll blow her mind.

     

    So something along the lines of “I was born healthy, into a situation where there was always enough food and always enough money, and people around to parent and mentor and guide and teach me. Sometime during my teens it became very real to me that not everybody else had these privileges.”?

    • #9
  10. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Dill (View Comment):
    people who happen to be wearing a red shirt privilege (you stand out and are therefore less likely to get hit by a car when biking to campus) people who aren’t wearing a red shirt today privilege (Less likely to get killed on Star Trek), ect.

    I prefer safety yellow with reflector strips when I’m out and about at odd hours.  It’s getting to the time of year when it’s dark when I go to work, and there are people out there walking in the road wearing dark clothes.  Do they not have any sense of personal responsibility for their own safety?

    • #10
  11. Dill Inactive
    Dill
    @Dill

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Dill (View Comment):
    people who happen to be wearing a red shirt privilege (you stand out and are therefore less likely to get hit by a car when biking to campus) people who aren’t wearing a red shirt today privilege (Less likely to get killed on Star Trek), ect.

    I prefer safety yellow with reflector strips when I’m out and about at odd hours. It’s getting to the time of year when it’s dark when I go to work, and there are people out there walking in the road wearing dark clothes. Do they not have any sense of personal responsibility for their own safety?

    Don’t get me started on cyclists around here. They’re okay about having some kind of reflector when riding around in the dark, but during the daytime they take the main high-traffic road to campus rather than going a single block further to take a quieter road which has much less traffic and deposits you in the center of campus. Many don’t wear helmets, they are unpredictable in their movements, and generally just a nuisance in a town not originally built for cycling.

    • #11
  12. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Maybe start with something like this.

    I have white male heterosexual cisgendered able-bodied Christian privilege.  Oh, and I’m extremely attractive, too.

    This is a huge advantage.  I am openly discriminated against in the law, in education, in employment, and in virtually every institution in society.  When I win anyway, I know that it is because I am the very best, despite the playing field being tilted in favor of everyone else.

    This must be very annoying to other people.  If a favored “underprivileged” person accomplishes something, she must have a nagging feeling, at the back of her mind, that it was a fraud.  She knows that she is favored by an unjust and hypocritical system.  This would be true even if she might have legitimately won in a fair competition.  But the competition is unfair, and everybody knows it, so her achievement is inherently suspect.  I am privileged not to face that problem.

    As I understand the “privilege” game, the tools of knowledge, facts, reason, logic, argument, and evidence are my exclusive possession.  This gives me an incredible advantage, as the rest of those underprivileged ninnies have to go on believing things like 2+2=5.

    As a white male, I am privileged to be allowed to read George Orwell, so I get to know that the Party that insists that I believe that 2+2=5 is not a benevolent protector, but a monstrous, totalitarian, oppressive tyranny.  So I know that the entire “privilege” narrative is the tool of a malicious cabal bent on intimidating decent people into accepting its lies, in the service of their own power.  Everybody else isn’t allowed to read Orwell, so they’ll never realize how wrong they are, which gives me the incomparable advantage of being able to think and reason in accordance with the actual nature of the world.

    For example, about that 2+2=5 thing.  I think that an example given is this:  “There are two factories. Each factory has 2 fully operational machines, as well as half the parts to build another one. If the two factories were joined into one and the two halves of parts were built together, there would be 5 total machines. A case where 2+2=5.

    Because of my white male privilege, I actually get to learn and understand fractions.  So I know that 2 1/2 + 2 1/2 = 5, and that this does not demonstrate that 2+2=5.  Apparently, underprivileged people are such illogical, irrational, illiterate, innumerate ignoramuses that they don’t even understand that 2 and 2 1/2 are not the same number.

    I don’t actually think that the so-called underprivileged are as ignorant as this indicates, in general.  I do understand that most of them are going along with obvious lies in order to obtain special privileges.

    Since the 1960s, there’s been no privilege like being considered “underprivileged.”

    Oh, and because I’m a Christian, I have God on my side.

    • #12
  13. Dill Inactive
    Dill
    @Dill

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Maybe start with something like this.

    I have white male heterosexual cisgendered able-bodied Christian privilege. Oh, and I’m extremely attractive, too.

    This is a huge advantage. I am openly discriminated against in the law, in education, in employment, and in virtually every institution in society. When I win anyway, I know that it is because I am the very best, despite the playing field being tilted in favor of everyone else.

     

    Haha! (I’m not male, though, although it’s arguable females have more advantages at times nowadays.

     

    • #13
  14. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Dill: Post some vague word-salad about advantages in life that I am grateful for, and that others might not have (Which is I think what the question is really getting at, albeit in a very “Woke” manner.)

    And explain why you think these are advantages and not privileges.  In fact explain the substantive difference between advantages and privileges.  This could be a really interesting conversation.

    • #14
  15. Dill Inactive
    Dill
    @Dill

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Dill: Post some vague word-salad about advantages in life that I am grateful for, and that others might not have (Which is I think what the question is really getting at, albeit in a very “Woke” manner.)

    And explain why you think these are advantages and not privileges. In fact explain the substantive difference between advantages and privileges. This could be a really interesting conversation.

    See, I don’t know the difference, given the definition of privilege given. It’s muddy.

    • #15
  16. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Dill (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Dill: Post some vague word-salad about advantages in life that I am grateful for, and that others might not have (Which is I think what the question is really getting at, albeit in a very “Woke” manner.)

    And explain why you think these are advantages and not privileges. In fact explain the substantive difference between advantages and privileges. This could be a really interesting conversation.

    See, I don’t know the difference, given the definition of privilege given. It’s muddy.

    That actually seems like a really great place to start.

    I also don’t see a great difference between the two words – it just seems like semantics to me.

    (But then I also have no issue stating that my many many unearned advantages do privilege me in life.)

    [Edit: on a complete segue, dill is one of my favourite herbs. Inspired name.]

    • #16
  17. Kephalithos Member
    Kephalithos
    @Kephalithos

    Dill (View Comment): Wait, how did you know it was “Her?” (It is. Obviously. I don’t know that there’s that many male psych grad students these days.)

    You wrote, “I deleted her sample answers.”

    Even without that cue, though, I still would’ve guessed correctly. Because I’m a misogynist.

    • #17
  18. Dill Inactive
    Dill
    @Dill

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Dill (View Comment):

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Dill: Post some vague word-salad about advantages in life that I am grateful for, and that others might not have (Which is I think what the question is really getting at, albeit in a very “Woke” manner.)

    And explain why you think these are advantages and not privileges. In fact explain the substantive difference between advantages and privileges. This could be a really interesting conversation.

    See, I don’t know the difference, given the definition of privilege given. It’s muddy.

    That actually seems like a really great place to start.

    I also don’t see a great difference between the two words – it just seems like semantics to me.

    (But then I also have no issue stating that my many many unearned advantages do privilege me in life.)

    [Edit: on a complete segue, dill is one of my favourite herbs. Inspired name.]

    I also don’t have an issue with telling people about my unearned advantages. But we should at least be honest about intent–is this an exercise in gratefulness? Or in confession? Either way, I don’t mind. But I want to be clear about what I am saying.

    (Thanks! Also a fan of dill, but the username was inspired by Dill Harris from To Kill A Mockingbird.

    • #18
  19. DonG (skeptic) Coolidge
    DonG (skeptic)
    @DonG

    I have claimed engineering privilege for decades.  When I assert this, it means my facts are correct and decisive until proven otherwise. 

    If it were my choice I would take a different class that provides a more marketable skill.  

    • #19
  20. Dill Inactive
    Dill
    @Dill

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):

    I have claimed engineering privilege for decades. When I assert this, it means my facts are correct and decisive until proven otherwise.

    If it were my choice I would take a different class that provides a more marketable skill.

    This is a child development class in the psych department. A little redundant, given that I have already taken Developmental Psych and Childhood Language Development. I am taking it mostly for the upper-level credits that I am required to finish this year.

     

    • #20
  21. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    Dill: Why is this important, and what does it have to do with developmental psychology? Let me be clear: the purpose of this is NOT to make us all feel guilty about our privilege; that wouldn’t be useful. Rather, the purpose is that we start each conversation from a place of awareness, which breeds understanding and compassion. We are going to be debating some potentially heated topics in this course. It is REQUIRED that we ALL engage with one another respectfully. I will ask each of you to try and see others’ perspectives, while arguing for your own (in other words, it’s not an “either/or” type of scenario; refusing to look objectively at the other side does not show strength in your argument).

    Umm, I have to say that compared to most of the nonsense emanating from the Academy, this one is actually rather benign.  If the wording were different, it might even be somewhat laudatory.  My argument:

    1.  Learning how to engage with others respectfully is woefully under-taught and yet sorely needed.  Ricochet is a testament to what respectful conservations can be like.  
    2. She is clear that privilege is not to be a source of guilt. Rather, this exercise is designed to make one reflect  on ones own life experience.  It is a least a small consolation that she didn’t stop with racial privilege.  She gets a lot of demerits for mentioning it at all.  But if she hadn’t used the word “privilege” – one of my surefire triggers- and instead had said something like:  Say what you are grateful for in your life and how it has made you what you are today.  Consider how your experiences shape your current views when responding to someone who disagrees-then I would be all for it.  
    3. She admits that the conversation will get heated because there will be controversial topics and she is asking for students  to see other’s perspectives.  That’s refreshing and a bit of a throwback.  She is not shying away from these conversations like many professors.  I’m sure she will be brought up on charges by some snowflake who will claim that they feel unsafe.  So it is actually just a little brave that she is doing this at all. 
    • #21
  22. Zafar Member
    Zafar
    @Zafar

    Dill (View Comment):

    I also don’t have an issue with telling people about my unearned advantages. But we should at least be honest about intent–is this an exercise in gratefulness? Or in confession? Either way, I don’t mind. But I want to be clear about what I am saying.

    The wording seems to be about awareness?  Which makes sense if it’s a psychology course.

    The example she gives, educational privilege, seems to hinge on that (but is also a little condescending? which is another thing to be conscious of I guess).

    The whole exercise might be hideous, but it might also be an interesting thing to think about.

    (I mean, is awareness of one’s own privilege really that awful a thing? Seems like it could be used for a number of outcomes that you decide on, like humility or loving kindness or being a better clinician or…??)

    Rolling one’s eyes and going in grumpy is something that is okay on Ricochet, but this is a course you’re doing, and this assignment could be useful to you.  If you can approach it more openly to enjoy it, or to succeed with it, then why not?

    (I’m aware that this is completely unsolicited advice – I guess that’s my Older Male Indian Privilege surging through there – please ignore if unwelcome.)

     

    • #22
  23. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    A few years ago an essay of that type made the rounds in which the student talked about how his Holocost surviving grandparents and then his parents worked hard to provide him with advantages they didn’t have.

    • #23
  24. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    I would be honest and express my difficulty with the word “Privilege” in the context that she gives.

    For example, the word privilege has specific meaning in the legal realm

    “A privilege is a certain entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. … By contrast, a right is an inherent, irrevocable entitlement held by all citizens or all human beings from the moment of birth.”

    Which somehow describes that driving is a privilege (issued at the sufferance of the state and can be taken by them for just any reason or none at all) and somehow not a restricted right (like the restriction on freedom of speech to not engage in yelling fire in a crowded theater).

    In all truth, I have no idea what your professor means when she uses the word privilege as opposed to random advantage or divine providence, depending on your religious worldview. (Also, I have no idea what is the special meaning of the word fellowship is in a Christian setting – the academic setting, I understand – the church’s overuse of the word, I do not.)

    The left’s use of the concept of privilege to describe the world might as well be called statistics, although their use in projecting the circumstances of each person they meet is completely wrong.

    Take a Caucasian man, aged 20 with a job working on a ship. Generally lots of privilege there, unless you are John Newton in 1745 and the ship’s name is Pegasus. Then you are bound to be a slave in Africa. From which you will not be rescued for 3 years.

    The privilege game doesn’t work.

    • #24
  25. Dill Inactive
    Dill
    @Dill

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Dill: Why is this important, and what does it have to do with developmental psychology? Let me be clear: the purpose of this is NOT to make us all feel guilty about our privilege; that wouldn’t be useful. Rather, the purpose is that we start each conversation from a place of awareness, which breeds understanding and compassion. We are going to be debating some potentially heated topics in this course. It is REQUIRED that we ALL engage with one another respectfully. I will ask each of you to try and see others’ perspectives, while arguing for your own (in other words, it’s not an “either/or” type of scenario; refusing to look objectively at the other side does not show strength in your argument).

    Umm, I have to say that compared to most of the nonsense emanating from the Academy, this one is actually rather benign. If the wording were different, it might even be somewhat laudatory. My argument:

    1. Learning how to engage with others respectfully is woefully under-taught and yet sorely needed. Ricochet is a testament to what respectful conservations can be like.
    2. She is clear that privilege is not to be a source of guilt. Rather, this exercise is designed to make one reflect on ones own life experience. It is a least a small consolation that she didn’t stop with racial privilege. She gets a lot of demerits for mentioning it at all. But if she hadn’t used the word “privilege” – one of my surefire triggers- and instead had said something like: Say what you are grateful for in your life and how it has made you what you are today. Consider how your experiences shape your current views when responding to someone who disagrees-then I would be all for it.
    3. She admits that the conversation will get heated because there will be controversial topics and she is asking for students to see other’s perspectives. That’s refreshing and a bit of a throwback. She is not shying away from these conversations like many professors. I’m sure she will be brought up on charges by some snowflake who will claim that they feel unsafe. So it is actually just a little brave that she is doing this at all.

    You have a good point. But why involve the word “privilege” at all? Why even go through the motions? In my developmental psych course, there were many discussions involving people’s different backgrounds and values, and a sense of “Respect others’ perspective” without any such discussion.

    I’m worried this will bring on other weird discussions, too. But (as @sawatdeeka pointed out) maybe she had to do this, and this was the best thing she could get away with.

    • #25
  26. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    Headedwest (View Comment):

    EODmom (View Comment):

    Bob Armstrong (View Comment):

    Literacy, rational thinking, introspection would all seem to be viable sources of privilege per the rubric…

    How about good genes – born with good eyesight, good hearing and native immunities. Born to a family that is intact and taught me and demonstrated empathy and humility and respectfulness in engaging with others. Those are both things not within your control. Luck? Privilege? People ought not blame their parents or others for their lives after they are 18, but what the heck – talk about what you started with. Gratitude is never out of style.

    I really like this. You can express gratitude for all the good things that you got in life without using their code words.

    Agreed. Write about what you are “thankful” for without ever saying “privilege” once.

    It’s important that leftists know that not everyone agrees with them and that we are not afraid of them. The fewer people who speak up, the harder it becomes to do so. But we can be bold without being belligerent.

    • #26
  27. Dill Inactive
    Dill
    @Dill

    Zafar (View Comment):

    Dill (View Comment):

    I also don’t have an issue with telling people about my unearned advantages. But we should at least be honest about intent–is this an exercise in gratefulness? Or in confession? Either way, I don’t mind. But I want to be clear about what I am saying.

    The wording seems to be about awareness? Which makes sense if it’s a psychology course.

    The example she gives, educational privilege, seems to hinge on that (but is also a little condescending? which is another thing to be conscious of I guess).

    The whole exercise might be hideous, but it might also be an interesting thing to think about.

    (I mean, is awareness of one’s own privilege really that awful a thing? Seems like it could be used for a number of outcomes that you decide on, like humility or loving kindness or being a better clinician or…??)

    Rolling one’s eyes and going in grumpy is something that is okay on Ricochet, but this is a course you’re doing, and this assignment could be useful to you. If you can approach it more openly to enjoy it, or to succeed with it, then why not?

    (I’m aware that this is completely unsolicited advice – I guess that’s my Older Male Indian Privilege surging through there – please ignore if unwelcome.)

     

    Yeah, the idea of reflecting on your perspectives and biases is definitely a good idea. But if I quietly do this assignment, should I do the next? Where do I draw the line, when it comes to the SJW stuff? 

    • #27
  28. Kephalithos Member
    Kephalithos
    @Kephalithos

    At some point in the last decade, “count your blessings” became “check your privilege.”

    What’s the difference between the two sayings? One is designed to inculcate gratitude, and the other is intended to instill shame.

    • #28
  29. Kephalithos Member
    Kephalithos
    @Kephalithos

    Dill (View Comment): Yeah, the idea of reflecting on your perspectives and biases is definitely a good idea. But if I quietly do this assignment, should I do the next? Where do I draw the line, when it comes to the SJW stuff?

    If and when an assignment requires you to speak untruths, then abort or push back. Until then, tiptoe around the landmines and try to reframe the discussion in ways that don’t require you to accept the SJWs’ premises. This tactic got me through graduate school.

    • #29
  30. Aaron Miller Inactive
    Aaron Miller
    @AaronMiller

    I am thankful to live in a society without a hierarchy of victimhood; a society in which people are kind not because they owe a debt but because they desire for others to prosper. I am thankful to live in a free society because true charity can only be voluntary. 

    • #30
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