Humberto Valencia

Privilege.

Privilege is a right or immunity granted to certain people in order for them to carry a responsibility or to enjoy of something. I t derives from the Latin word privlegium.

Many books take use of this word, to refer to something great or hard to achieve; like in The Giver by Lewis Lowry; the main character called Jonas is given the privilege of holding the memories of a whole community so well organized, but that lacked feelings, and lived in an environment of sameness. It is a hard assignment for Jonas, since he will have to feel things he didn't knew about. Also along with that assignment he had to pay the price, he felt lonely and pain because of the memories he was given. He also had the choice of lying to other members of the community and read books that were different from the ones he used to read at school, those activities, regular members of the community could not do.

Privilege is a word that has been used for a long time. Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emperor said: "When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive -to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love." This explains what privilege meant for him, in this case, being alive and do everything that came along with it. The most important from my point of view were to think, enjoy, and love.

Many of us see things as a privilege, and we all have a different concept of the word, but it all comes down to having a greater responsibility that we might as well enjoy.