From “People Who Look Like You” [“A tall white man beside you on a hike”]

A tall white man beside you on a hike, a tall white man eating ice cream beside you, the white man who forgets if he’s taken Lexapro that night, the white man who can’t sleep, too excited to skateboard the next day, a photo of the white man as a child eating French fries with the blankest look on his face—your favorite photo of him. You are tempted to plug the tall white man into the logic problem about a tree falling in the forest and the sound it does or doesn’t make. You don’t get too far in your scenario before realizing the forest, owned of course by the white man, is now partly yours because you are married to him. You realize you could learn something about acknowledging privilege from the tall white man, who admits fault much more easily than you do, probably because admitting fault doesn’t cost him power.