We all live in a bit of a bubble, especially during these Covid days. We are around the same people, and we do many of the same things the same way each day. So, sometimes we forget to look out beyond the bubble, to take a look all around – beyond our home, or town, or our county and state. It’s easy to get self-absorbed, and to make decisions based on our own little world.
Some people have lived in one place all their lives. Others have traveled the world and have seen firsthand how people in other places go about their days. They see beautiful lands but also poverty right there too. Actually, nobody has to travel far to experience the extremes of both if you are looking. Here where I live I see amazing, large homes in secure gated communities and I see rundown single wide trailers with blue tarps on them. These two extremes are short drives from each other. The poverty around here stands out because it’s on some of the main roads that I travel every day.
My town is like so many others. You drive by – and you get numb to the hardships of those living along the road, in The trailers or small shacks. You may wonder how they are holding on, and why they have such a sad looking place to live in, and why they haven’t pulled themselves up and made a better life. But, most days you don’t think about it.
Maybe we don’t want to think about it. It’s painful. It’s hard to feel sympathy and then to go on. At least it’s hard to go on if you have a heart. It’s easier not to think about them. About others. About the guy down the street who can’t fix his roof before the next storm arrives. “Everyone has troubles so why should I care?”
I think those who lack a morale compass – or who lack a connection with God – can drive by the poor and not think much about them. Well, except maybe they secretly say they are happy it’s not them. I wonder if people who prefer not to care about others were not taught is as children, or if something happened along the way to harden them, or maybe they just aren’t deep thinkers.
As we get ready to vote – and as we think about the next 4 years in America – I hope the folks with morale beliefs and who live by God’s directives (go, serve, make disciples of all men) outweigh the others. I hope there are enough people who look outside their bubble and want to see the people down the road, and the people in the next county and state, have a better home, a better chance for a job that can pay enough to make ends meet. I hope when we vote we do it asking who will make ALL our lives better? Not “what’s in it for me?”
Bubbles can be cushiony. They can keep people ‘safe’ and unable to see beyond a small area. Let’s ‘burst those bubbles’ and take a good look beyond, and then vote to improve the lives of every man, woman, and child in America.
America has always been the land that accepts the tired and the poor. It’s written right there on the Statue of Liberty. It has also been the place where everyone should have an opportunity to make a good life for themselves.
But drive along the roads and you will see it’s not happening as it should.
Marla’s Musings 