Privilege
Last week, a former App Academy student gave us TAs dinner and a tour at his company’s office. Most TAs are only contracted for a few months and soon find work elsewhere, so it was clear there was an ulterior motive here; they were pitching us. But they didn’t give us the hard sell because they didn’t have to; the work environment pretty much sells itself. There are three free meals a day (plus snacks) catered by in-house culinary staff, as well as game rooms, nap rooms, an open bar, a piano that lights up and various other intriguing pieces of interactive decor all in a trendy, modern industrial space with a hip, creative ambiance.
And views.
It’s near the top of the Hamm Building, that big grey tower by Potrero that I always suspected to have killer views. I can now confirm that it most definitely does. I’m something of a connoisseur of San Francisco views, and I honestly don’t believe that there is a better view of downtown anywhere. It is so full, so balanced, so free of obstacles—even the hideous Hilton tower looks good from there, anchoring the left side as One Rincon holds down the right. As the daylight ebbed, I stood there watching the fog roll over the tops of the buildings. It was incredible. I wish I could’ve forgotten the tour and just stayed at the window. It was all truly amazing.
And yet I chafed. As much as I love all of the incredible things I saw, touched, and tasted. As cool, smart, and likable as the people I met were… something about it made my skin crawl. As I left, I saw a low-wage Latino man folding and stacking up boxes for the recycling. It didn’t look like he was having a great day. I wanted to go over and thank him for cleaning up, but I didn’t work there, so I just left. It made me think again of all the minimum-wage workers who work as hard or harder than most people in tech, and yet they are paid a fraction of the salary with no pampering or fine catered meals.
Not that there’s anything wrong with all these nice things. The problem is the attitude and culture that honors and values those with skills demanded by the market while ignoring everyone else. It’s another incarnation of the entitled "bonus culture" of Wall Street that everyone was so mad about right after the financial meltdown of 2008.
This was driven home to me recently when visiting a friend at another tech company downtown. The office has a bar and gaming area, and I was sitting there when I overheard some business higher-ups getting a tour. The guide said, “These are the kind of amenities you need to have in order to attract the top talent.” Again, I cringed!
I hate living in a culture where that kind of privilege and entitlement reign. My worst fear is that it will somehow infect me, and I will start thinking that way, thinking of myself as someone who deserves these things by virtue of my talents, unlike those other people who aren’t as smart or motivated or forward-thinking or what-have-you as I am. That I would turn my worship to my own skill and ability rather than giving thanks to God for all he has entrusted to me. That’s really what’s wrong with this idea. It’s a form of self-worship. It alienates us from others and makes us forget how to serve and honor those around us.
Unfortunately, this privilege culture is ubiquitous in Silicon Valley (so much so that it has been parodied), but it is by no means restricted to San Francisco, or to the tech industry, or to any industry at all; I ran into a similar situation long before I was in tech, and it bothered me then too.
When I was a high school senior visiting colleges, I toured a fraternity house. All the upperclassmen went to the front of the line while the pledges ate last, slept in the worst room, and were generally mistreated. There is an aspect of truth and wisdom to this. If you work hard, put up with the troubles and lean times, and are smart about it, you too can achieve the good life. This is the truth of the world and the wisdom of the world. But "God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and his weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Cor. 1:25).
The example I have in Christ Jesus is that of a servant king, who gave up more privilege than I could ever fathom in order to enter the world as a helpless infant, grow up misunderstood by all, suffer persecution and ultimately die a horrific death, all to extend the riches of his heavenly privilege to us, without respect to who we are or what we can do. He is the most worthy person in all history because he gave worth to every person in all history.
So we are called to do likewise. The way of the cross is to give up worldly honor and privilege for love of others. This is the culture I want to embrace and to live into: A culture where we seek the privilege of serving one another, where we don't exploit our God-given abilities for superiority or worldly luxuries, but, with thanksgiving, following the example of Christ, we use them for the good of all.
This is why I love the Church, and why without it, I don’t think I could tough it here. Even if we don’t fully achieve that standard, we’re still striving toward it. We don’t seek to live for our own selves or our own significance, but for Christ and his body. It’s a place where we can receive encouragement and be freed from slavery to self-love so that we can embrace the fullness of God’s love. It’s such a fuller, freer, and lighter way to live. The world’s eternal striving after privilege and pride is heavy to bear; Christ’s burden is light!