Bradley Leathers

Professor Sipin
English 211C
January 17, 2015

Look at How a Single Candle Can Both Defy and Define the Darkness
I am Bradley. On July 16, 1990 I was born in Baden-Wrttemberg, Schwbisch Hall,
Germany, approximately thirty miles east of Stuttgart where my father was stationed in the army.
My stay was short lived as my father got out of the military and I spent the majority of my life in
Marion, Ohio. My parents were separated when I was five and neither party had a significant
amount of money. Often I saw my mother cry when she didnt know I was looking and watch her
smile at me when she knew I was. My father, whom I am a lot alike now, was much more
transparent. He would talk to me like an adult and made me aware of our situation, making sure I
understood why I should be content with what I have and that it was because of all of his hard
work. It was blunt but it worked. My mother was very much a pushover and my father was very
much a strict, militant disciplinarian. I vowed to play planet earth in our solar system and try not
to get too far or too close to either of those traits as to be certain I dont get burnt up or frozen out
of my desire to simply be humble. I grew up lonely because my dad had custody of my sister and
I and he worked constantly. I had a lot of time to think. I wondered why my friends had all the
cool new toys and why their parents lived together and mine didnt, but I cant recall ever
resenting my situation. I learned to embrace it and appreciate the beauty of it, as hard as it was to
see at times.

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Both my father and mothers sides of the family come from German ancestry, but
peculiarly enough there are fragments of a Cherokee Indian bloodline somewhere on my
grandfathers side of the family that has most certainly found itself lost in translation over the
discourse of the past few generations of Leathers for I, as well as the few of us that remain,
display very Anglo-American attributes. I have yet to find a family member wearing a
ceremonial Cherokee headdress to a Christmas party. I also burn rather easily. Furthermore, the
Leathers lineage can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon roots.
It is now 2015 and that medieval, barbaric group has ushered its way through the ages,
some morphing into a single group of people with the same religious, political, and humanitarian
reasons for leaving Europe and worked their way into early America, fighting hand-in-hand with
immigrants of many European walks of life, ultimately gaining independence and establishing
themselves as Americans. Anglo-Saxon has worked its way into the label of White Anglo-Saxon
Protestant here in the United States and has taken on a privileged, wealthy white stereotype that
couldnt be further from reality. I find myself in the midst of the illusion.
While Im positive white privilege exists just as much as racism or cheeseburgers, many
Caucasian citizens are foreign to the lifestyle, including myself. I can appreciate not being
exposed to the reality of the stereotype because one appreciation leads to the next and I fear the
unknowns. What if I were born into wealth? What if I were one of the lucky few to not have to
deal with the realities of living in a divorced family (broken over financial stress)? What if I
chose any other route in any way to have ultimately made me someone that I am not today?
What if the level in which money takes precedence in my life was higher than the low that it is?
Understanding there is a struggle with the stereotype and my reality has granted me the ability to

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ask those questions that I dont think I would be able to ask, or even think to ask, if I were the
white elect. In that alone, I find appreciation.
I can identify with the protestant portion of the label. I am a Christian. If I had to inquire
further, I would find myself to be pseudo-Baptist-non-denominational-esque, carefully trying not
to tread on adding to the faith by implementing my own personal tradition of the truth of the
Gospels into them. Sects are a tricky thing. Perhaps Protestantism comes easy to me because of
my heritage, but I have made great strides in attempting to know for certain that I am a Christian
by choice, not by assumed right or association. With the label come many morals and standards,
that of which I try, to the very best of my ability, to fulfill daily. I do have my hang-ups and I do
have my one unfortunate Achilles heel, but I do try my best to stamp them out or keep them
hidden unto myself.
I hold very dearly to my heart four lines from the epic poem Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight. The author remains a mystery to this day, but I feel as if he knows me better than I do at
times because he tells me more about myself than I knew upon reading it:
And now, Gawain: think.
Danger is yours to overcome
And this game brings you
Danger. Can this game be won?; (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 487-490)
I find the four lines hold true to my daily struggles with my morals and even in regard to my
status in the United States as a white American. Gawain was faced with honoring his Christian
virtue alongside his knightly code. Despite his fears and even his best intentions, he tried his best
to do right and was careful to discern right from wrong. The same applies here in the 21st century

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in modern day America. Daily, I try to function in a shamed world and dare myself to operate in
the realm of my personal moral reality in a society that makes it very difficult to do so. As
mentioned, even adhering to sticking to my guns and being a positive example of a white man
that sprouted out of a poor family, I hope to continue to be the example and not get frustrated
with the difficulties I can face out there in the world.
Affirmative Action has made a name for itself allowing for those hindered by race, to
prove their worth in the work force, academia and more. One races struggle has found a bridge
that has proven to be a speed bump for others. In the past, I have been denied a job because of
quotas to be met in hiring minorities. Knowing what bare-bones personal struggle is can I be
mad knowing two very different peoples boxing matches with equality has crossed paths?
Personally, I would say no. I hope that others can take a step back, look at their realities, then put
another persons shoes on and see for themselves that while we may have very different
complexions and circumstances, in regard to struggling through life, we are very much alike.

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Works Cited
Anonymous. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Norton Anthology of English Literature
Ed. M.H.Abrams. 6th ed. New York: W.W.Norton and Company, Inc., 1993. Print.

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