Privilege, stereotypes and recognising you will never know how it is for someone else.

Has anyone been watching 'Timeless'? It's a new E4 programme where three people chase a 'criminal' through time and, like art should, it uncovers the many prejudices which have existed throughout history. 

The team is made up of a woman who comes face to face with the old school sexism, the black man who ends up in scrapes simply because of the colour of his skin and finally the white good looking man who realises he does not have these barriers. Finally, they come face to face with an 'Old Boys Club', inherited wealth and the advantages this gives its members. 

While it may have shown how far we have come (and how far we have to go). It also showed something else - how privilege affects everything. However much empathy one may have, you will never understand someone else's life. 

If you were born a man, you will never know how it really feels to be a woman. You will never know how it is to be felt up, objectified, feel scared when being followed home, look at your outfit and question if you are asking for it, know that you are earning less than your male contemporaries, be asked when you will have kids, know you only have so long to have kids, know you don't have control over your body, wait for your period to see if you're pregnant, be called a slut, be called frigid, shave or wax over 50% of your skin, have to go to work while feeling like your stomach is being stabbed repeatedly etc etc. 

If you were born one race, you will never know how it is like to be born another. How it is to be suspected by police because of your skin colour, how it is to have friends who have been shot by police, how it is to have people cross the street, how it is to hear from your family how they were forced into worse schools etc during segregation. 

If you were born into a certain religion, you will never know what it is like to be anything else. If you aren't Jewish, you don't know what it is like to have family lost in the Holocaust. If you aren't Muslim, you don't know what it is like to be stared at with fear when you board a plane or say a prayer, or see your religion dragged through the mud when ever a terrorist attack occurs. If you aren't Christian, you don't know what it is like to be questioned on your purity by every male you come into contact with. 

If you have money you will never know what it is like to not have enough for food. If you have an education you will never know what it is like to be illiterate. If you have a country to call home you will never know what it is like to run for your life. If you have a loving family you will never know what it feels like to be truly alone. If you have running water you will never know what it is like to get risk your life because you are thirsty. 

That's the thing you see, you will never know what it is like to have someone else's life. You will never know what it is like to be grouped into another stereotype. You will be in your group, whether you asked for that or not. 

So what can you do about it? Try and show empathy. Try and understand that some groups get it better than others. Try and imagine what it is like to be in their shoes. Then try and challenge it. 

If you were the one at a disadvantage, what would you want someone else to do?

If you were being judged by a police force by your skin, you would want someone to look beyond that and look at the facts. If you were treated like a bad person just because of your religion, you would ask people to look at you as an individual. If you were scared because you had a vagina, then you would want that vagina to be protected. If you had spent years running for your life, searching for a new home, you would want to be welcomed to somewhere safe. 

We are all stereotyped, there is no denying it, but right now some people get it easier. But it could be on the other foot. You could be the one who is being judged on something they can't control, the one who needs help or the one who needs inclusion. 

So recognise your privilege and treat others as you would want to be treated if you weren't so damn lucky, because you are really really lucky, trust me. 

Written by a privileged girl from the UK. 

Is Trump a good Christian man? What should we pray for? Where do we go from here?

How are you meant to look at the American political situation right now? As a Christian I mean.

Well there are the evangelical Christians who supported Trump. Those who are celebrating a control on abortion as God’s will. Those who celebrate the tirade against homosexuality, trans-sexuality, Muslims and the reminder of women’s place in society.

Then there are those sitting there looking at this situation and asking – is this God’s will? Is there any good in this man?

I am sure somewhere inside Donald Trump there is some good. His love for his children and his grandchildren is apparent. His keen business acumen could be celebrated. His obsession with the American worker could be worked as a care for those less fortunate.

But, at the end of the day, in my mind a Christian is defined by love. Yes the bible speaks of judgement and punishment, but not at the hands of other men, but at the hands of God himself. Trump is not God.

His love for others can be questioned. Does he love the Syrian refugees running for their lives? Does he love the Muslim countries he has just put border controls on? Does he love the journalists who were arrested? Does he love the animals who climate change will affect? Does he love the women who will die from unsafe abortions? Does he love the women who accused him of sexual assault? Does he love the disabled who will no longer be covered with Obamacare reforms? Does he love the children being taunted for being different after the rhetoric of his election campaign? Does he love his wife after the social media taunting? Does he love the people he posts mean tweets about? Does he love the other politicians in the world or see them as pawns in his game? Does he love his own daughter when he commented he was proud of her to “a lesser extent” than her siblings? Or does he even think about them at all?

Does he just think of himself? Is he egotistical? Has he created an idol in his own vision? This is the man who used charity money for portraits of himself. This is the man who has his name on every building he owns. This is the man who tweets angry remarks when someone disagrees with him. This is the man who funded his own presidential campaign. This is the man who ran up to the White House instead of holding his wife’s hand. This is the man who stopped organisations tweeting when they didn’t tweet the right remark. This is the man who accused the press of lying when they showed photos of his inauguration.

So does he has respect and honour for the position he holds? Since taking office, he has banned many state departments from using social media. He has spoken out against climate change and reduced funding from the US. He has talked about making America great again, but forgot that he could make the whole world great again. He has moved to build a wall alongside Mexico. He has stopped abortion funding. He has reduced funding for many Diversity boards. He has threatened war with China, indirectly. He has called his lies, alternate truths. He had rioters arrested and then released the man who stabbed an anti-fascist protester. He has said torture works and talked of reinstating it. He has made moves to reject Obamacare and stop the covering of pre-existing conditions. He has done many things, whether he has signed the piece of paper or these things were done under him, but it is his government and in turn his actions.

So is this man a good Christian man? Maybe he is but currently I see little evidence to support that. I really wanted to go through this article and think this man loves, he is not egotistical and he respects his position and the good he can do with it, but the evidence thus far does not show that. I see he shows little love or understanding for the majority of the human race. He seems obsessed with himself and his values rather than what is best for the country, or world as a whole. He seems to lie at every turn and twist the truth for his own benefit. He seems to back policies which segregate, punish and hurt innocent human beings and in turn animals and the planet.

So I hope that through the next year he can show a love to the world that he has shown to his grandchildren. I hope he can show the intelligence he has shown to his business empire to the big problems facing America and the world. I hope he can share the lack of prejudice of his daughters and spread that to all groups in society. I hope that he can be mature and stop tweeting when something doesn’t go away. I hope he shows respect to all those who deserve it, compassion to all those who don’t and becomes a good influence on the world. I hope that he cares for the world with all its differences and problems.

That is a lot of hope and when his actions thus far have brought about more comparisons to Hitler than to a Christian, it seems a jolly long way to go. So if I convert all of those hopes to a prayer maybe that’s a little step there.

So what else can a do a Christian do, when you look at these questions, these statements, the news, what can we do? I think we should stand up and show that he does not represent what Christians are all about! We should show love and support to the groups he is persecuting, whatever race, religion, gender or sexuality. We should pray that he is helped to do some good with his power. We should speak out when we don’t disagree with him. We should rally our politicians to stand up to him. We should extend a hand of friendship to the Americans scared of living under him. We should help fundraise for the causes which are now underfunded. We should ensure that his rhetoric is not normalised, or respected, or permanent. We should show that God made this whole world with all its inhabitants and not just one country, one gender, one race or one religion. Essentially we should love and show what being a Christian really is all about.