In and Out of Bubbles

For a writing prompt last week students were asked  "What would you change about America and/or the world?" It saddens me that so many of them see the hate, judging, prejudices, and the unfairness and injustices that  results from those judgments as the number 1 thing they would like to see change in the future. Then today for a different lesson they were asked what happens when we blend cultures. The common first thing they mentioned was conflict.

Maybe I live in my own bubble of illusion too much, but I like to think with each new generation we are moving forward in improving this problem. My parents were children during the Civil Rights Movement so I guess that means my generation was the first generation to grow up in the Post Civil Rights era, and now we are the first to raise children without knowledge of experiencing life before or during the Civil Rights Movement. Even though it has been 50 years since the Civil Rights Act passed; attitudes and beliefs that are maybe not so accepting are still passed down from one generation to the next. I guess it takes time for those to attitudes to die.

One of them mentioned in their writing that if we would just judge less and love more, there would be so much less conflict in the world. It is so simple, and I believe it. If we teach our children to be more empathetic, understanding, to love more and judge less, maybe one day there will be a more peaceful, united world. I don't know. I hope so for our children, but sometimes like my students I wonder what the possible reality of that truly is.

In order to move towards a less judgmental, prejudice world, I think as individuals we have to step outside of the little bubbles we live in. All our bubbles of reality are different, and I truly believe if we want to grow as individuals and understand our world better we have to be willing to educate ourselves about the bubbles of others. We have to be willing to step outside our own bubble in order to do that.

As people we need this exposure as much as possible; this is how we educate ourselves. I love people. I love to study people. They fascinate me, but I think the thing that fascinates me the most is the individuality and difference among people. No two are the same. Isn't that really amazing when you think of it? I'm not a Science teacher but the science of how that is possible is just amazing to me. Just as I love to study people, I love to study our interactions with one another.  Not only are we different as individual people but even our environments are different. That environment with our families and their value system with our individual experiences is what creates each of our own bubbles.

One of the most fascinating things to me about people is how much they understand or don't understand outside their own bubble. How many are willing to step outside their own bubble to step into someone else's to gain a little understanding? I truly believe it's when we step outside our own bubble that we truly grow. I believe it is our lack of wanting to step outside the comfort of our own bubbles that leads to the misunderstanding between one another or from one group of people to another.

Some want to believe their bubble is perfect, the ideal bubble. No bubble is necessarily better than another; just different. I found this experience for myself through reading, the places we've traveled and visited, and my chosen career has also often provided the opportunity to learn more about people, cultures, lifestyles, and worlds different than the one I know. Any of us can educate ourselves more through reading, friending people different than ourselves, visiting places, and even in the jobs we take.

Our youth sees this hate and this lack of acceptance, and they see the violence that it creates with wars and shootings. The kids I'm teaching now were toddlers when 9/11 happened, which was just two years after Columbine, which I think to many of us was the start of the school shooting epidemic we've seen  with the turn of the century.  Kids today I feel are surrounded by so much more negativity and hostility than I recall as a youth. All too often I feel like all I hear more negative things about our youth today than positive. Do you think maybe some of the problems result from this negative, sometimes violent world that at times seems to lack understanding and acceptance that we've brought them into. They didn't create that world. We, the adults, did. I, for one, want to see it change for them. We owe them hope. It starts with each of us individually, pushing for a better more accepting, loving world.



I'm going to leave you with two quotes I'm stealing from people from my hometown that continue to inspire me every day with their dedication to creating a better tomorrow. One is this,

"What Sally says about Susie says more about Sally than it does Susie." Think about that before we spread negativity about one another.

"Your life is your message to the world. Make it inspiring"

Find inspiration and be an inspiration. We can all learn from one another. I learn from sixteen year old kids every day. Never think somebody can't teach you something.


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 Sales from my book, Moms, Monsters, Media & Margaritas,  this month is going to the Families of SMA this month.   The book examines how our 21st century digital world shapes our perceptions and expectations of our capabilities as mothers, wives, employers, and women. I talk about balance or the struggle of finding balance often in here. It will leave you with a humorous and inspirational look at the individual journey of motherhood that takes each of us from the girl we were to the woman we become. The book is also now available on the Amazon kindle for $3.99 and the Barnes and Noble Nook for $4.99. With the purchase of print and ebook books  20% of sales goes towards a children's charity for the The PACI Fund Project. This Fall donations are going to the Families of SMA charity.