There was a race. 10 people all stood at the same start line looking at the same finish line 100 meters away.
This finish line represented success. Whatever success means to each participant. Those who win the race will achieve their own version of success. But before they began the race, the host of this run said ‘I will be making some statements, and for each statement that is true for you, take 3 steps back from the start line’.
Everyone looked at each other confused. How is this fair? they all thought.
‘Shouldn’t everyone have the same start line?’ exclaimed one of the participants.
Ignoring their disgruntles, the host continued ‘Here are my statements:’
If your parents don’t have a university degree, take 3 steps back.
If you live in a house that you don’t own, take 3 steps back.
If your household income is below £20,000, take 3 steps back.
If you have a single parent, take 3 steps back.
If you have over £20k in debt, take 3 steps back.
If you have more than 1 job to pay all your bills, take 3 steps back.
If you are disabled, either physically or mentally, take 3 steps back.
If you are a woman of colour, take 3 steps back.
If you cannot speak fluent English, take 3 steps back.
This way the host continued. But by the time he finished, everyone was staggered and had different starting points for the race.
Some were as far back as 30 steps further back than where they started.
Then the host blew his whistle to mark the beginning of the race.
Naturally, the one person who didn’t have to take any steps back and stayed at the same starting point in front of everyone won the race.
Often we think when we reach success, it is because we ran really hard or worked above and beyond. ‘I deserve this’ we say. When we reach success, we feel confident and proud. Sometimes this feeling turns into ego and pride, we start to believe we won because we worked hard and we deserve it. When in fact, in reality, everyone has different starting lines. It’s an unfair race. The life in which we are born and brought up determines how easy the race will be for us. We could be the strongest, fastest and most intelligent person in the group, but be 30 steps behind, meaning we don’t win the race due the to unfair advantage other people have.
Next time, we come to success we should remember that it wasn’t just because we worked really hard, but there were a million other reasons alongside our work ethic that gave us an unfair advantage. It’s a privilege to win, not our right.
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