What’s the best thing about being pale?

There are a lot of good things, but to me the best is never having a built-in excuse when something goes wrong. Figuring out how how and why a bad thing happened and learning from it has helped me to continually evolve personally and professionally. If I, by default, attributed all negative outcomes to a boogeyman, I would then miss out on the introspection required to become a better person and remain mired in mediocrity or worse. I remember getting my arse kicked and being choked by some cops for lying and being a smartass. Were they dicks? Sure. Did I also play a part? Yep. I learned how to behave to avoid that result in the future. It only happened once and I moved on.

1a has to be the lack of negative expectations heaped on me by peers. I remember in Melrose elementary school in the early 80s, a black girl named Rochelle and I used to compete for smartest kid/best grades. She was mocked relentlessly for “acting white” because she was black while trying to speak well, study and achieve. I was spared this pressure, all I had to do was square up once or twice a week.


What do you like about being white?