那一刻，我感受到我的特权
我们是九个十八九岁的孩子，白人，来自北美和欧洲。我们一起踏进诊所，一种感觉油然而生，好像我们几个比医生还要懂医术。我知道这种感觉从何而来：白皮肤和美国口音。
United States, Northern America
Story by Sidra Kennedy. Translated by Lina Bell
Published on September 13, 2020.
This story is also available in 
Listen to this story:
想像一下：你十八岁，刚从高中毕业。你最讨厌生物，整个高中只有这一门课是C，还非常与众不同地选修了物理而不是化学。如果只是感冒，你还能自我诊断一下，更严重一点的问题就会把你弄得晕头转向。
在这个前提下，你觉得自己能给别人打针，或者是帮人接生吗？似乎没有人会让一个完全没接受过医学教育的人去做这种事吧。然而，这种事却发生在我的身上。
高中毕业后，我空档年（gap year）的项目是学习加纳的公共卫生系统，了解一下世界的发展。项目里一共有九名成员，都是来自欧洲和北美的十八九岁的少年。我们中有三人被分到了阿散蒂地区的乡村诊所。我们本应和医生交流，观摩他的操作。但是踏入诊所的一瞬间，每个人看到的都是：我们是白人。病人们坚持让我们来看诊，就连医生也这样说。这很让人震惊：我们一点医学相关的训练都没有接受过，一下子就得到了这么沉重的责任和敬意。这种自动出现在人们脑子里的意识是很可怕的，人们觉得一群高中刚毕业的孩子会比学医多年的医生和护士做的好。我知道这种意识从何而来：我的白皮肤和美国口音。然而，我难以理解为何他们会产生如此敬意。
在我协助一位助产员接生后，我对自己感到很生气。我怎么能去做一件我明知自己没有资格做的事？我怎么能默许这种错误的想法：一个白皮肤的西方人就一定能胜任医生这种神圣的工作？意识到这一点令我很吃惊，甚至可以说是很受伤。虽然我一直自诩为开明的自由主义者，我也知道这世上有许多因为肤色引起的不平等，但是我却毫无知觉的享受了肤色带给我的特权。我没有试图改变病人们的观点，我没有强调助产员的权威性，我只是默认了这种偏见然后直接做了接生的工作。
在那个诊所工作的时候，我的心中五味杂陈：感到吃惊、感到特殊、感到羞耻，这些感情交织在一起令我迷惑。我觉得，如果我一味享受这份特殊，那我将永远无法消除任何歧视。在这个过程中我逐渐意识到，这种不应得的特权会让某些人看起来高于他人，这样就加剧了歧视。消除歧视有两个过程：第一步是很明显的，从源头上解决歧视；第二步较为隐蔽，消除我拥有的这种不应得的特权，因为这一定会导致歧视的发生。
How does this story make you feel?
Follow-up
Do you have any questions after reading this story? Do you want to follow-up on what you've just read? Get in touch with our team to learn more! Send an email to [email protected].
Talk about this Story
Please enable cookies to view the comments powered by Disqus.
Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter
Stay up to date with new stories on Correspondents of the World by subscribing to our monthly newsletter:
Follow us on Social Media
Sidra Kennedy
Hi!! I’m Sidra, I’m 19 years old and I’m from the United States. I love discovering new cultures and meeting new people. So far I have lived, worked and studied in the US, Guatemala, Thailand and Ghana, but I hope to expand and learn more. My passion is education and one day I hope to dedicate my life to trying to provide education to everyone in the world. But for now, I’m trying to experience as much of the world as I can!
Other Stories in 简体中文
> United States
那一刻，我感受到我的特权
A story by Sidra Kennedy
English Audio available
我们是九个十八九岁的孩子，白人，来自北美和欧洲。我们一起踏进诊所，一种感觉油然而生，好像我们几个比医生还要懂医术。我知道这种感觉从何而来：白皮肤和美国口音。 Read more...
Explore other Topics
Get involved
At Correspondents of the World, we want to contribute to a better understanding of one another in a world that seems to get smaller by the day - but somehow neglects to bring people closer together as well. We think that one of the most frequent reasons for misunderstanding and unnecessarily heated debates is that we don't really understand how each of us is affected differently by global issues.
Our aim is to change that with every personal story we share.
Community Worldwide
Correspondents of the World is not just this website, but also a great community of people from all over the world. While face-to-face meetings are difficult at the moment, our Facebook Community Group is THE place to be to meet other people invested in Correspondents of the World. We are currently running a series of online-tea talks to get to know each other better.
