I believe yes! Humans, by virtue of their birth, are privileged. As per Sanatana Dharma, a being has to be born into 84 lakh species before it gets the blessing of being born as a human. This insight makes me feel that being born as a human itself is a privilege.
Let's look at other life forms. Every other life form lives at the mercy of man because of the anthropocentric thought that has been dominating our psyche for the last few centuries. We have wreaked havoc on the planet with the last century being one where the rate of extinction has been the highest of various species! And they cannot even communicate to us in a manner that we can understand as effectively as the gift of language helps us. Having established this premise, let me delve a little deeper.
But there are so many human who struggle to survive. The children of Africa never know when their next meal or next sip of clean water may be. The children of Syria never know whether they will wake up the next day. The children living in tin homes in India never know if the heat will get them or not. I am privileged. No denying it. When I see their struggles I have no choice but to be grateful.
Many of us lucky to be born into our families after they broke out of poverty. We are lucky that we have homes to live in, 3 meals to eat a day and vehicles to travel in. By the mere virtue of what our parents have achieved, we do not have to struggle as much. Yes we are privileged. We compare our happiness with others that breeds jealousy. Someone else will always have a better smartphone. Someone else will always have better clothes to wear. Someone else will always earn more. But do we ever compare our sorrows?
We can eat 3 meals a day, even dare to waste, in a world where 25,000 people die every day due to hunger as per the UN. We get to drink a glass of clean water whenever we want to in a world where every 2 minutes a child dies due to a water related disease as per Water.org. When we start earning, we do not need to invest to buy a house or a vehicle thanks to what our parents have achieved. So each of our money can go to investing for other assets and funds. Are we not privileged?
If we compare our sorrows, we will realise that we are always better off than someone else. So let us spend our lives helping those in need- whether human or not!
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