Perhaps one of the most overlooked privileges is not wealth itself, but having enough margin in your life to respond to reality. Over the last few years, we have become fluent in the language of privilege, speaking easily about financial privilege, pretty privilege, racial privilege, passport privilege, educational privilege and social privilege, and in doing so we have become increasingly aware that people do not all start from the same place and that some doors open more easily for some than for others. Yet there is one form of privilege that seems to receive far less attention, and that is the privilege of being able to do something with the information you have, not simply knowing, but acting, because the truth is that information alone changes very little. We like to imagine that if people only knew better, they would do better, and entire industries are built around this assumption, from self-help books and documentaries to podcasts, awareness campaigns, public health initiative...
“Poverty is not a vice. But what you do with it might be.” — Unknown There’s a dangerous, quietly accepted narrative that’s taken root in many parts of Kenya: if you’re poor, you’re exempt from responsibility. That being poor gives you moral immunity. That the system is so broken, so rigged, that all standards of decency and dignity are no longer required of you. We see it in small things and large things. The loudness in matatus that bleeds into chaos. The trash thrown carelessly into rivers or roadsides. The apartment blocks painted once—and never again. The total absence of civic responsibility in many public spaces. But here’s the hard truth: poverty is not a license to live poorly. Where We Confuse Things There’s a difference between being wealthy , rich , and living well . Being wealthy is about generational access, systems, security. Being rich is about accumulation—money, assets, disposable income. Living well is about intentionality. Cleanliness, order, kindn...