If people of a different subject position than you are expressing concerns regarding a source of difficulty and/or trauma in their lived experiences, and it doesn’t apply to your experience, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. That means you are blessed with a certain type of privilege that allows you not to have to think about or deal with that particular challenge in your daily life. Instead of denying or diminishing the lived reality of others, simply because it doesn’t reflect your own, instead try active listening, keeping an open heart, and practicing empathy. Understand your life isn’t the sole reflection of the human experience. It might not be a part of your life, and that’s fine, how lucky you are, but it is very much a part of someone else’s.Â
