Fragility

It must be nice to be a Man, capital M man, Man whose M is flipped to be a W for White, Man the representative noun, except it's not representative at all. Even the dictionary erases everyone else: "Man: the human individual as representing the species, without references to sex; the human race; humankind." The audacity. A definition synonymous with the middle finger.

Must be nice to leave the toilet seat up without thought for another. To want what you want and not realize the absolute privilege of getting it. To express pain when you feel it, instead of holding it together. To have a life so pampered that simple requests feel like an afront to one's placid state. To come and go when you please, without worrying about schedules or consequences. To think only for yourself, the practiced anticipation of others' needs an uncomfortable and awkward exercise. To expect to receive, not prepare to create. And even those more evolved of the species experience the engrained empathy that the marginalized live and breathe as a slight scratch instead of a hollow canal as deep as the Mariana Trench. To seek pleasure not temporary respite.

But oh oh oh, the ultimate cosmic irony, because Man is also synonymous with Fragility. If you are never pushed or tested or required to struggle you become flaccid and brittle at the same time. And the underestimated, those who are forced to examine every angle and facet of this life, to know the sharp points and the places where it's slippery, to wait even though it's impossible, are the ones who survive.