Sometimes I wonder if some
parts of me cancel out other parts of me.
Like for instance, I’m a
Caucasian male, right? You’d think that would put me at the tip top of the patriarchy
pyramid. You’d think that I’d be perched
way up there with all of the advantages and privileges that are the birthright
of Caucasian males oozing out of every orifice.
But I’m also crippled. And
that has always felt to me like it cancels all that other stuff out. Like for instance, I was sent to a state-operated
boarding school for cripples that I refer to as the Sam Houston Institute of Technology
(SHIT). I might’ve been one of those gifted students who would’ve been placed
on a fast track to the Ivy League schools. Or I might’ve been a dime-a-dozen
mope with a C average. Who knows? I was never given a chance to find out
because I was crippled and that was all that mattered. Cripples were sent to schools
like SHIT and that was that.
I suppose it’s true that being
a Caucasian male puts me at the tip top of the patriarchy pyramid within crippledom.
It’s logical to conclude, considering the rules of the game, that a black woman
who is crippled would have a much harder time making progress than a cripple
like me. Every once in a while the patriarchy bends over and spreads its cheeks
and says to an outside culture, “Psst. You can enter me now. But just the tip.”
Thus, guys like me are the first ones to penetrate.
A few years ago, I was invited
to be the commencement speaker at SHIT. I think I was invited because I am probably
their star alumnus, even though I graduated from there 50 years ago.
Of all the people who have
come and gone from that place throughout the years, I may be their best success
story. Isn’t that sad?
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