Burstin’ the Bubble

I’ve spent the last two weeks living in a virtual bubble. The time has been spent on a travel based project for work, consuming 20 out of 24 hours per day and at the beginning and end of the trip, a 46 hour stretch of sleeplessness. I usually try to maintain some basics of my “normal” life whenever I travel (either personally or professionally). I like to read a newspaper or at the very least capture the headlines. I find it keeps me in tuned into the world and centered around a shared interests of mutual importance. Even when I’m on a cruise ship I peruse the news digest they publish. In this case, however, I was off in a bubble, largely unaware of world events.

Days after returning the chaos of the project continued and another matter became all consuming. The bubble continued out of necessity. The usual reprieve after such intensity hasn’t occurred – with the 2 to 3 hours a night of sleep quickly becoming the norm stateside as well. Physically and emotionally that can’t continue and I look forward to this long holiday weekend as the perfect antidote.

Being in the bubble, however, provides a unique perspective. It shields one from what’s happening in the world, let alone one’s community. It becomes a safe place to be. Conflict is less, worries are gone. I mean, can any of us really affect the events that are reported? Saving the hour or so each day of being ‘connected’ in order to manage jobs, schedules for kids and an array of other items might be a far better us of limited time and focus. Most of what gets ‘reported’ is a regurgitated press release put out by lobbyists, special interests or others, right?

Living in a protective bubble for a couple of weeks can refreshing – permitting the return to engage with current events with fresh eyes and fresh perspective. I myself am hoping for that in the days to come. But to make the bubble permanent – to only surface sporadically for news and to surround oneself with opinions and beliefs that are similar to ones one only serves to further isolate constituents from their representatives and community, which is bad for democracy.


As the United States celebrates the Declaration of its Independence this July 4th weekend for the 239th time, it is an appropriate time to burst the bubble many Americans live in.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Give me a break!

The idiom “give me a break” generally is used when you don’t believe something that has happened or been said. We’ve all muttered the expression a lot lately, especially around the 2016 Presidential race. I am going to use it here more literally. I started this blog in late July 2010. This is the 329 th iteration. At an average of 750 words that’s nearly 250,000 words. To compare that’s about three average mystery novels (at 80,000 words each), much less than the Bible (800,000 words) and nowhere near the IRS Code (4 million words). Originally Craig’s Corner was a way to keep me focused during a long stint where I was without work or income. With gainful employment it has become a welcome respite from the day-to-day tasks. I tend to focus on issues that are interesting to me but not necessarily a critical part of what I do day in and day out. My perspective isn’t unique, but I do look at the word with a different lens. I’ve tried hard not to be part of the echo chamber and been...
Read more

Hoping for Grace

I wrote this blog regularly for many years, 330 unique posts. Every Thursday I’d post my thinking for the week. I always strove to offer a perspective that wasn’t in the main discourse on a particular issue. It wasn’t left or right or even center – just looking at something from a different angle. There were some really great dialogues that happened with people who appreciated nuance and having a substantive conversation. I never sought for agreement from readers, just a healthy and respectful debate. The election of Donald J. Trump changed the engagement from polite discourse to flame throwing character assination if somebody disagreed. That wasn’t interesting or productive to me, so the blog no longer served its intended purpose. I return to the format because today because it seems to be a good way to explore an issue that I’ve been long committed to, but handled in a thoughtless way. Recently I made a thoughtless comment on a Facebook post that was undeniably racist, and demean...
Read more

Giving the gift

Image
The holidays are right around the corner. It’s a time of reflection, excitement and no matter one’s religious predilections a there’s a tradition of gift giving. Talking about the holidays before Halloween is usually met with revulsion and resistance. This time it’s different. While we can’t grant everybody’s #1 wish – that the 2016 U.S. Presidential election cycle be over – maybe we can do something close.   Let’s give Donald J. Trump what he’s been talking about. I’m wary of adding to the proliferation of commentary on the Grand Old Party’s nominee. But then maybe there’s something to the Trump complaints. Instead of dismissing everything that comes out of his mouth as made up, perhaps we should be doing is more of what he worries about, not less. The more recent complaints from the real-estate tycoon have to do with media bias. All “the media” does is lie, distort and never gives him fair coverage. This same media generated over a billion dollars of free brand and...
Read more