The Fragile Inheritance of Privilege
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” — Proverbs 16:18
I recently listened to a reflection by Dr. Shanté Holley, a sociologist and public educator known for her sharp insights into systems of power and privilege.1 She was responding to a question many of us have asked in recent years: Why are so many white men so angry? Rather than offering a psychological explanation, she took a systemic view.
“Privilege,” she said, “is what weakens you.”
That line has stayed with me. When people are taught from birth that they deserve prosperity simply because they exist—without needing to cultivate grit, humility, or shared responsibility—something vital within them atrophies. When they see others, long excluded from the center, rising with resilience and strength, they don’t always respond with introspection. Instead, they reach for blame.
It’s a provocative truth. Systems of domination don’t just oppress the marginalized—they also deform the powerful. When success is inherited rather than earned, when advantage is presumed rather than practiced, when worth is assumed without question or reflection, the soul forgets how to grow. The path of least resistance dulls the sacred capacity for adaptation, empathy, and creativity.
We see this now in the furious backlash to a world changing without permission from those who once held the center. It shows up in angry chants at political rallies, in the policing of school curricula, in the violence of January 6th, and in the quiet rage simmering in church pews, boardrooms, and barstools. “You are the reason I’m losing,” the privileged whisper. “You’ve taken what was mine.”
But what if the real tragedy is not what was taken—but what was never developed? The inner strength forged in adversity. The deep well of imagination sparked by limitation. The communal bond born from needing one another to survive. These are the gifts denied by systems that teach, “I am, therefore I deserve.”
Meanwhile, those cast to the margins have been building muscle—resilience, solidarity, resourcefulness. They do this not by choice, but by necessity. Now, as they rise and create new worlds, the fear among the formerly dominant becomes uncontainable. Privilege, confronted with its own fragility, lashes out, today with military occupation, deportations, erasure of history and the diminishment of the feminine.
But here’s the irony: the backlash only strengthens the rising. The oppression refines the resistance. The fire purifies the vision. And the great reversal, foretold in every wisdom tradition, begins to unfold. The last shall be first. The meek shall inherit. The stones the builders rejected become the cornerstone.
We who are witnessing this moment particularly in US politics—this unmasking of fragility, this resurgence of dignity—are called not to pity the angry, nor to fear them, but to refuse their logic. We are called to keep building, to keep loving, to keep growing the muscle of moral imagination.
The future belongs not to those who were once powerful—but to those who never stopped evolving.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where have I inherited unexamined privilege, and how might it have weakened my capacity for resilience or compassion?
What strengths have I developed through struggle that I once saw as liabilities?
How can I respond with courage and clarity when privilege lashes out in fear?
A Prayer for the Day
A Blessing for Those Becoming
Holy Wisdom, You who live in the margins, who speak in the voices too long ignored, who rise in the people once forgotten— teach us to trade certainty for humility, dominance for dignity, entitlement for empathy. Bless the strength born of struggle and the vision born of longing. And when anger rages around us, steady our hearts in love that refuses to back down. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Strengthening What Privilege Weakens
Today, spend time noticing the systems that have shaped you—your family, your education, your culture, your religious formation. What were you taught to expect from the world? What were you taught others deserved? Take five minutes to write down the silent assumptions that may have formed your sense of identity, especially in relationship to power, success, and worth.
Then ask yourself: What muscle do I most need to strengthen right now? Is it humility? Empathy? The courage to speak hard truths? The willingness to listen? The capacity to relinquish power?
Choose one of these muscles and commit to a small, concrete act that builds its strength today. Maybe it’s listening more than speaking in a meeting. Maybe it’s naming a truth you’ve been avoiding. Maybe it’s stepping back so someone else can step forward.
As you go about your day, let your actions train you into the person you long to become.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
September 4, 5:30pm ET - I will be collaborating with the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology to host a conversation with Thomas Jay Oord on Open and Relational theology. It’s a FREE event. Register here.
October 15-18, 2025 - Converging 2025: Sing Truth Conference (all musicians invited!) at Northwest Christian Church in Columbus, OH. Register here!
October 23, 30, November 13, 20 2025, 7pm ET - In Search of a New Story: Reimagining What Comes Next, A 4-Part Online Series with Dr. Matthew Fox, Cameron Trimble, Ilia Delio, Diana Butler Bass, Caroline Myss and other Special Guests. We are living through the unraveling of many old stories—about who we are, why we’re here, and how we are meant to live together on this Earth. As these inherited narratives collapse under the weight of climate crisis, social fragmentation, and spiritual disconnection, the question becomes clear: What story will guide us now? REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
Oh yes, inherited unexamined privilege weakens my capacity for resilience and compassion! Thank you.
You state "These are the gifts denied by systems that teach, “I am, therefore I deserve.”"
I believe and teach " We are, therefore we deserve." Because we breathe, because we exist, we---all of us-- deserve. We need do or be anything to deserve. In this consciousness, no one is less than, and all have access to the gifts of Spirit.