Recently, I Tweeted:

Everything I have experienced as a privilege could have been experienced as an imposition.

Everything I have experienced as an imposition could have been experienced as a privilege.

Some people asked for more on that, so here it is.

I was Ranger team lead last year at Alchemy, which meant that I got to spend Saturday night interacting with intoxicated, un-ticketed attendees and police officers responding to noise complaints. This was somewhat less fun than the things my friends were doing. Now, a lot of people might view that as an imposition, as in, “I can’t believe I have to spend my burn night dealing with these drunk assholes instead of having a good time with my friends!” But as annoying as the experience was while I was having it, I seldom, if ever, wavered from seeing my role as a privilege. I don’t have to deal with drunk assholes and cops all night; I get to be the one who deals with those people so that everyone else in my community doesn’t have to.

It is a privilege to be the one who cares for my garden. How much would I miss out on if someone else were doing all that weeding and digging and watering?

It is a privilege to be the the one who does boring-ass spreadsheets for my company. There are a lot of unemployed people who would jump at the chance!

I guess what this idea boils down to is don’t take things for granted. If something seems like an imposition, then either I don’t want it or I want it but I’m taking it for granted.