“I am lucky, because I was not born in a Calcutta slum”

When you look at somebody else’s life, or some other situation much worse than your own, and make this kind of statement, you mean; that could be me, but for my good fortune of where, when and to whom I was born. This is also the meaning behind the classic saying “there but for the grace of God go I”. Put another way, you are saying: I could have had bad luck and been born into that person’s situation, their terrible circumstances, their difficult life. But could that really happen? Could you have been born into some other time or place? The answer is no, you could not have. You exist as a unique individual, the sum product of your parent’s unique genetics and the unique experiences of your environment. There is only one you.
So why is it that so many people assign good or bad luck to the circumstances of our birth, implying that they may have otherwise been in some other circumstance? This idea that a person could have been born into some other place, to some other family, in some other time even, is derived from the construct of the soul. The soul defines who you really are as a person and is distinct from your body which is only a vessel. It can carry on after your body is gone, whether in heaven, purgatory or hell. Before you are born, your soul is waiting for you up in heaven, waiting to be directed into a particular baby (now inseminated egg) to form you. In this construct, it is natural to think that this same soul could have just as easily be directed to inhabit the baby born in the Calcutta slum instead of the one born in Beverly Hills. “There but for the Grace of God go I”.
As an atheist, the problem with this idea is that none of those things could have happened because atheists reject the idea that a soul exists both before your birth or after your death. I am only myself, uniquely born to my parents. A unique combination of their DNA and the familial, social and environmental impact of the years since my birth. For me to say that I am lucky to not have been born into some other place or time (different parents), is to consider myself lucky to have avoided an event that could not happen. For it to happen, I would have to potentially be that other person, in their circumstances and their life. In a rational universe, that can’t happen because those other parents do not posses the same DNA as mine. They will produce a completely different canvas upon which to paint a life. Further, their family, friends and circumstances will shape the “other” me in ways dramatically different to my own unique experiences.
It is true that I am lucky to have been born in the first place, as the unlucky alternative is to not exist at all. However, I can’t say that I am lucky to have been born to my circumstances as there was no other alternative outcome. Consider this when you read about social policies and other ideas and arguments based on the concept of the good or bad luck of your birth and remember: there is only one you.