Sunday Night With John: Can We Quit The Savior Complex?

Can We Quit the Savior Complex?

John Paul Derryberry

Man, I loved playing basketball. There was something magical about entering the arena and the score starting zero to zero. I was even with my opponent. There were rules in place to ensure that no one gained an unfair advantage and impartial referees to enforce those rules.  Every team attempted to play to their strengths and hide their weaknesses en route to achieving a victory.  Now, I'm a slow guy who cannot jump. I lost a lot on the basketball court. Way more than I won, but there were times when everything clicked. And oh boy, when it clicked and I beat someone better than me, did it feel amazing! 

Life doesn't offer these conditions. We don't start with a tie game in life. So many factors are out of our control: gender, race, social status, economic factors, location, sexual orientation.  Many are given a head start in life, but that advantage is not acknowledged. My favorite quote ever is, "We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started." --Henry Ward Beecher

I know some trendsetters with the savior complex who have barely traveled a block away from their posh beginnings. Yet, they dole out advice as if they understand struggle on any level more profound than the shallowest puddle in the history of the world. 

The story this week, about an alumnus wiping away the student loan debt for every graduating senior of his alma mater, is a fantastic feat, something I would love to do someday. However, it covers up a more significant problem. You have to go to that specific school, that particular year to receive that benefit. Life continues to be a lottery. We praise saviors, but it's precisely those saviors who create a system where the few at the top birth large population sectors that need saving. I, for one, prefer to save my own life and most people I have met want that same thing. 

I'm also not against figuring out ways to create something that pays you significant amounts of money for your ideas. Just like I never turned down a better basketball player joining my team to help us win more games, as long as they joined fairly. By all means, please, use that money to help out others. It's noble to give back, but what's not noble about where we are at is so many different populations who need some savior to swoop in and save the day.  

We are not starting lives with the score zero to zero. We probably will never build a society that achieves that. There are too many variables to plug into the equation. We can, however, seek a more fair playing field where we will need fewer saviors, where the ones always playing from behind can taste the sweet flavor of overcoming the long odds without need of assistance.  Where we begin to realize that those with built-in advantages do not have some secret to life figured out and dole out cliched advice. 

We will look at those advantages the same way I looked at the 6-foot-10-inch basketball player who dunked on me. No matter what the rules to even the playing field, I'm not making up an 8-inch advantage and that's okay.  What matters is a fair chance, to win the game and life, which many do not have at this time. Some people are more talented than others. We can all live with that in a fairer system. Enough with the well-off and their savior complexes. How about we focus on leveling the playing field so we win and lose based on our own talent? It feels better that way!