The great difficulty with white privilege is its sheer ubiquity and its sheer seductiveness. Imagine that you are a beautiful woman or man and people just open doors for you, offer their arms, offer you the best seating, you do not ask for it, but it just happens. After a while, you believe that you must deserve it, that it is yours by right. But it does not, it simply is a result of your youthful beauty. Also, the simple fact that your culture values your particular kind of beauty. You look around and see other beautiful people being treated the same way. Maybe you see that this is a system. Maybe you realize that the system may harm you. You are given the best seats because your presence advertises for and improves the brand of the restaurant you are in. They may put your picture up on the wall, to say beauty was here. You may not realize that there are entire groups of people who are excluded from this life through no fault of their own. Then someone throws water on you and says you are hurting people because of this system, a system you may or may not have realized was even there, a system you know that you did not set up. But by genetics or luck, your parents and grandparents were also beautiful people. They earned more money, were able to own more property because beauty can attract money. All of their earnings passed down to you, allowing you to go to better schools and to earn more yourself. Now you are asked to turn it down, to say this is not fair, that the system is wrong. Will you? or will you fight to maintain the system for your own beautiful children?

© words by Daniel DeMarle 2/15/21

I discovered that I had lost ….

I blame it on reading too much Scnhauer,

which left me feeling less.

So I listened to John Lennon,

and I found some rope and some dope,

but only a pocketful of ….

apparently nothing.

Well, at least I have this chest,

which used to be full of blankets,

but now just seems to be empty.

I am just full

that I soon will get back my .

© words by Daniel DeMarle with help from Hubert Van Toll 2/13/21

Is there such a thing,

as a perfect day,

a perfect moment?

Is this it?

It is nothing spectacular,

nothing memorable.

Just me in this certain mood,

with a mostly burnt sandwich,

and a sense that those I love,

are all doing well.

That tides have turned.

That if I died right now it would be a good way to end this book.

The book we call a life.

© words by Daniel DeMarle 2/7/2021