After watching 14-year-old Royce Mann of Atlanta, Georgia perform his amazing piece of slam poetry, entitled, "White Boy Privilege," I became inspired and began to contemplate just which "rung" of the ladder I stand on. After both listening to the poem read by its poet, and reading the piece myself, I became more and more curious, and began to conjure up questions, such as, "How many virtual rungs on the ladder are there?" "Does the ladder hold an infinite amount of rungs?" and "Does each person stand on his or her own rung, or are there multiple people on the same rung?" "How many people does a single rung hold? Is there a limit?" All of these questions may go unanswered, but provoked me to think more, nonetheless.

The young teen wrote "White Boy Privilege" for his school's poetry slam. In his poem, Mann speaks on how while he loves being both white and privileged, he sympathizes with those of us who are not as privileged, those of us who make up the minority that puts him at the top. He explains that for him, he will never know the fear of seeing a police officer, to have parents of a high paying salary, nor what it is like to not have a prescribed, successful life ahead of him. In addition, the young poet offers a sense of understanding that those of us who are not white males, are slightly underprivileged than those who are. As the poem continues, Mann's vocal tone fluctuates, as he becomes angry towards the societal structure in which we have created: this ladder of inequality.

I don't believe Mann had any idea that his poem would have be so prevalent or inspiring, creating such an impact within our society. However, in my opinion, the words of this young 14-year-old are exactly what many of us needed to hear. "White Boy Privilege" calls for both those who witness the strong statements of the poem, and those who have not, to contemplate where we have been placed on the ladder we have set up within our own society.

Before continuing on with reading this article, I ask you to please view the live reading of the poem, or read the written poem yourself here.

So, what do you think? Do you agree that somehow we are given a specific rung to stand on the ladder? Do these so called, "privileges," vary from person to person, depending on our race, gender, salary, or sexual orientation?

With all of the recent and reoccurring violence taking place, specifically police brutality, I want to make it clear: no matter your reason, to deny the existence of a ladder of privileges is to walk blindly.

From a time before both you and I, and probably our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great (probably even more "greats"), grandparents lived, humans have created a pyramid — a ladder, that in which separates "us" from "them;" the "haves" and the "have nots." However you look at it, the human species has always lived through an organization of hierarchy.

Take a look.

Try to pick out one single body that is unlike the other.

Now ...

Let's place the labels under the skeletons the same way in which we would label them if we saw them in their living state.

… Not as easy, is it?

All of the skeletons look the same. Don't they? Even if you tried, you could not single any of one of the bodies out for being even slightly different. That's my exact point.

As this is a relevant topic, I want to make it clear: there is no separation between "Black lives matter" and "White lives matter." It does not matter if you identify as straight, gay, religious, or atheist.

It does not matter. You know what I think of it all? I think it's absolute bulls**t.

Because, why? Why are we arguing whose lives matter more? And guess what, we're all going to have the same grave. It doesn't matter if you're Black, White, Latino, Asian, or any other race that I did not mention above. The material items and paychecks we bring home to our families do not make us who we are; they do not define us. Loving someone of the same gender is not a crime, nor is it a straight sentence to Hell, just as attending mass daily does not make you or I any better than a person who chooses not to attend even the weekly service. If we can't treat each other with the dignity and respect each and every human being deserves, what the hell are we wasting our time on?

It is the integrity and morals we carry within us that makes us a decent human being. It is the kindness and compassion we offer to others. It is the little things we do in order to preserve the Earth we love and live on, and the simple actions we take to give back to others.

Because once we have passed on, and our bodies sit in the depths of the earth, and have begun to decompose, I ask you this: What’s left?

"What’s left?" now that your flesh has slowly dissipated into the bits and pieces of Earth surrounding you, the melanin that once pigmented your soft, smooth skin, is no longer. All that sits beneath the cool, cemented headstone is a pile of ivory colored bones. What sets you apart from all of the other deceased around you? Nothing. Nothing sets you apart except how you chose to live your life.

You must not forget that young, 25 year old, White, African American, Hispanic, Asian (or whichever race you would like the person to be), (fe)male that is handing you your order over the counter, is no different from you. Yes. (S)he may be working 3 minimum wage jobs, but he/she is doing their best. Their family might not have been able to afford attending college right out of high school. Regardless if you believe you are separated from this hard working 25 year old by racial, financial, or gender differences, you may be correct.

However, if you believe that because of their racial, financial, or gender differences, you are somehow superior to them, you are very wrong. You are no different. They are made up of the same bones that you are. We all come from the same blueprint, one that makes up you, but also makes me, me.

So, stop. For a second, I urge you to just stop and think.

My question to you is this: "How could you?" No, now don't look at the screen of your phone of computer blankly. I mean it, really, how could you?How can you argue that the life of a person of one race is more valuable or more important than the life that of a person of another race? How could you? How can yousit there and post or repost "Black lives matter" or "White lives matter," but couldn't care less about the safety of Syrian refugees who plead for shelter. How can you sit, reading this article, and tell me that yourlife is more valuable than mine? I want to know. How could you?

While I may be a young, middle-class, Asian-American woman of 19 years old, I am aware that my life is not worth any more than a person of any race or either gender that is of the working class, or otherwise. In the end, my life is just as valuable as theirs. News flash: so is yours.

Think of all of the life privileges you or I were handed, simply because we were born White or because we were brought up in a family that made up part of the upper-middle class. Some people are luckier than others. And you may just be one of those people. But that does not make your life any more valuable than anyone else's. You or I may have been placed higher up on a rung near the top of the ladder, but it is only an illusion. This hierarchy is an illusion in which we have grown accustomed to, and have begun to boost or deteriorate our egos, and invade our lives. We have created this ladder within our society, and it is destroying us. But it doesn’t always have to be this way.

If there's one any one lesson that you take for this article, I hope it is this.

While all humans may come in different shapes, sizes, and colors, but nothing, I repeat, NOTHING makes you better than a fellow human being. Not your gender. We may be on different rungs of the ladder, but we do not need to make that ladder a pyramid.

Yes. I hear you, all of you. I know that we are each different and may even be indifferent towards each other. But we have to quit letting our differences separate each other and keep building on top of what is already a barrier of hate.

THIS needs to stop. WE need to stop. If we seek equality, we must create it ourselves. For, if this ladder continues to grow, eventually the ladder will tip. If only we could just open our minds and combine our differences, and stop making it a race to the top rung of the ladder. Then maybe, just maybe, we could "take that ladder and turn it into a bridge." - Royce Mann

So, let's get this straight.

There is no "White race" vs. "Black race," or any other race, for a matter of fact.

There is no straight people are better than gay people.

There is no men are greater than women.

I do not want to hear it.

We are all of one race:

The human race.

Start acting like it.

"Not all Blacks are criminals,
Not all Whites are racist.
But... Ignorance comes in all Colors."