The Homeless Lady

I'm not sure she's homeless or not actually, but I've been giving her all my aluminum cans and glass bottles. She's an ex-gang somewhere. I can tell by her tattoos. I can't tell her age, because of all the sun damage, but she is a Hispanic woman who speaks...California English. And looks to be slightly older than me. Maybe she's got 10 years on me.

I've given her food in the past. And lemons. She's always thankful, and extremely polite. Has NEVER stepped foot in my place even though I invite her in just to get out of hot or cold.

I met her while she was digging through my garbage looking for recyclables.
She comes around here and there. I think she's afraid of this complex. She showed up yesterday, I instantly perked:
"Hey! Where ya' been?"
"I got my cart out front, I can just grab the cans." Then she leaned in "your neighbor is not very nice."
She was referring to the guy who lives next to me who is a 60 year old White guy who has expressed to me his disgust at people who have been rooting through our garbage. To him, it sends a message out that this place is ripe for cans to recycle for money.
Maybe he knows more about humanity than I do. But from how I judge the person, she is not interested in ripping me off. She is interested in living.
Then I started thinking about "White Privilege". Uh-oh heeeeere we go.
The thing is...the White fellow is more than likely living off government assistant. The reason I suspect this is because, though he works from home as a book dealer, he has exhibited no other means of survival. Perhaps social security. But an idle person seems to take big offense to...life (why this blog, I guess).
White privilege dawned on me between these two. Essentially they are in the same situation, yet one refuses to acknowledge that he is but a breath away from the inevitable. I'm sure we treat the elderly this way because we can't face the inevitable. White Privilege is a mentality that tells this man, something will come along and it will be better. Without the harassment of society. I'm not saying it's a badge to defend terrible police brutality (although I consider that more stupidity and under-trained staff than anything). But it explains how White folk seem to think things do get better instead of...surviving. To me, the lady who comes collecting cans has the ability and lack of pride to function much better than the man who thinks waiting in his home watching the world drive by is a better choice. I've been there, and done that. It's probably even more grating that he sees me spend time, energy and money on a dream he lost decades ago. Though, for me it wasn't about making money, but just having fun.
To me, this man thinks life gets better with little effort or concern. This is the White Privilege that  has been spoken about.