I lead a privileged life
And I know it.
I am not ashamed for it.
I love it.

I am not always privileged.
I know it.
I fear it.
And yes,
I love it.

It is difficult to convey,
The middle road,
When all you see is black and white.
I am grey.

No.
That's wrong.
I am radiantly colorful.
You just can't see that.

I understand that my life is a canvas
And I have barely painted a small corner
But it is vibrant.

As a Latina
I have experienced the joy
The music
The dancing

As a white passing Latina
I have not experienced the racism
The stigma
Or the pain.

As a woman
I have experienced the feeling of beauty
The soft
And the strong

As a woman
I have experienced the catcalling
The harassment
The fear.

I am a minority
And yet I am not the minority.

I am myself.
You are yourself.
And while our paths may cross
While our identities may overlap
While our canvases may share some of the same paint,
We are not the same.

Let's celebrate our differences
And the things we share

Let me celebrate the middle road,
And do the best I can for those who suffer more
Or show those who suffer less.

My father is extremely privileged,
And extremely hard working,
And yet at one time he lived the minority.
He was not a wealthy child
He is not a wealthy man
But he has lived a worthy life,
Full of color
And has experienced the middle road.

My mother was born less privileged
And yet,
Still more privileged than some.
She was a wealthy child,
Who could afford to not work at eight like my father,
But she was removed from that life
And fled to a country that was supposed to be every immigrants dream.
But it was not
And it still is not.
She became less privileged.
She became an "other"

We cannot build walls around ourselves because we do not understand the differences between two people.
We must build bridges.

I am less privileged than my mom was by birth,
But more privileged by circumstance.

I am a minority.
I am the minority of a minority.
And I can relate to the majority.

What I am trying to say is that no one
Not the most powerful man in the world
Not the poorest either
Is too different for the middle road.