The Blessed and the Burdened
The Blessed and the Burdened
(A Manifesto for the Well Born)
It is truly a blessing to be well born.
To enter the world through no doing of your own —
cradled in safety,
fed without fear,
taught to speak the right words,
walk the right paths,
dream the right dreams.
You did not choose your fortune,
but it chose you.
And for others?
It chose differently.
They are born into the bottom tiers,
where the floor is hard, and the ceilings low,
where the labor is endless,
and the rewards are few.
Their backs bear the weight
of a world that calls them
“unskilled,”
“expendable,”
“lazy,”
though it cannot function
without them.
Society is not a ladder.
It is a machine.
And machines require gears —
some large, some small,
some shining, some worn down to rust.
The economy does not ask,
“Who deserves to rise?”
It asks,
“Who will serve where we need them?”
This is not a flaw.
It is design.
If all were equal,
who would pick the fruit?
Who would sweep the floors?
Who would clean the wounds,
staff the midnight shifts,
fill the silence with toil?
Education pretends to lift the willing,
but it often serves to sort.
It is less about the mind than the gate.
Less about the truth than the ticket.
The diploma is not a light —
it is a password.
And now, with machines whispering answers,
we see the curtain pulled back:
Perhaps the process was never sacred,
only required.
And so we come again to this:
If you were born lucky —
into means,
into safety,
into access —
do not mistake your place
for proof of your worth.
You are not better.
You are merely blessed.
And blessing carries obligation.
To recognize the labor of the unseen.
To honor the scaffolds beneath your ease.
To resist the lie that merit alone has brought you here.
To serve those whose service has made your life possible.
For what is society,
if not a covenant between the fortunate and the forgotten?
Let your gratitude be action.
Let your comfort breed justice.
Let your education teach humility.
And never forget:
The ground you stand on
was built by the hands of others.