To Break the Bubble

History repeats itself. We call ourselves intellectually superior, or deeply moral, and yet, before we know it, we find ourselves waging the same wars, persecuting the same peoples, ridding the same land of the same resources. It’s strange. We call it progress — the new phones we buy, the figurehead promotions we receive, the innovative processors we develop — but if we keep making the same mistakes, our existence is nothing but cyclical. We’re still riding the same train on the same tracks — all we’ve done is upgrade the ride. We need to remember. We need to remember what has been done in the past. We need to know how to escape the same pitfall stations we seem fated to reach again and again ever few years. We need to remember the names, the faces — those who lost their lives for the sake of a better world. We need to remember those who gave up their livelihood so that we all could live lives in a future of one man who had a dream. We must not forget how many names — how man...

There are no exceptions for injustice. There are no excuses for hate crimes, murder, malice, mistreatment. Who am I? Am I so much more different than you that I deserve death?  Are you so much more different than I that your word becomes a death sentence? We are all the same. Why it is that we’ve let the issue of inequality persist into the 21st century, I will never know. But, know this. We are all the same. We’re evolutionarily related to countless other species. We share similar DNA with most primates, and we even share 90% of our genes with house-cats. And yet, in the same stroke that we open our doors to a stray neighborhood cat, we just as easily close our doors to a homeless person. We close our minds to those who are not “like us.” But we are all the same. This is more than a squabble. This is more than a casual remark — a featherweight imprint on the sand that will likely be forgotten, come the next tide. These are footprints on the moon. And our actions in t...

We grieve together for Ahmad Arbery. It shouldn’t have been him. It shouldn’t have been anyone. Justice was, eventually, served. Eventually. And we’re angry. Many of us are confused. Most are deeply upset. Disappointed in ourselves. How many deaths will be enough? How many more names on the wall do we need to engrave in our hearts before we learn to change for the better? Why did we need to rely on a media storm to ensure that the guilty won’t walk free? And to those that so blindly and wildly deal out hate crimes? There’s a certain irony to those who call themselves human, yet lack basic humanity. Did they ever stop to ask themselves, “why?” If there’s anything we can do, we can make a hell of a lot of excuses. Among them: “It’s how I was raised.” “Why change what works?” “It’s the way I am.” “It’s how things are meant to be.” Amphibians evolved to take their first steps onto terrestrial soil. It’s not as if they started off there. Tadpoles spend their time maturing i...

Childhood, I’ve learned, is very much a bubble. The bubble protects our children from the horrors of the world by painting an illusion of a world not quite so different from ours. In the bubble, conflict to a child is but a hazy memory. It’s a TV channel they might skip to find a more interesting show. Injustice is more of the same. Perhaps hate crimes might be imperceptible hairline cracks embedded in a window-pane? Everything outside this seemingly opaque bubble seems to be something a child might glance over and ignore. Our child may never know what’s outside, as it only shows itself when their parents are there to cover their eyes. Naturally, we try to protect innocence for as long as we can. It’s funny that we call maturity a coming of age. But what really is maturity? To be mature, must one be proper? Must one know to look both ways when crossing a street, or how to tie one’s shoelaces? I’ve learned that what they call “maturity” is simply the breaking of the bubble. Li...

Many times has it been said that we live in a bubble. Many times has ignorance gotten in the way of progress. We read about it on the news all the time, and just as soon, we close the window, looking for yet another source of interest. Now more than ever, our choices speak volumes. Now more than ever, it is imperative that we tap into the same human connections that unite us all. In a world dominated by wants and desires, it’s easy to be distracted. It’s easy to maintain the same stereotypes, the same opinions, and the same perspectives. It’s important that we remember that in our own individual uniqueness, we are all human. Despite our laws and beliefs, we are unified by principals of kindness, principles of hope, and principles of love. This blog contains the ramblings of yet another passenger along for the ride.