This week's thank you: For Getting Me Out of My Bubble

Bubble by zacktionman on Flickr CC BY NC

Empathy is a strange thing. It's difficult to truly put yourself into someone else's situation until you really know that person. Until that situation has a face. A voice. A smile. It's one thing to see the ASPCA ads with the Sarah McLauchlin song in the background. It's completely different to fall in love at first wag with a pound puppy.

In my bubble of Midwestern, white, fully employed, fully insured optimism, it's not always easy to do more than sympathize with the struggles of so many. Fears of medical bills that make care unattainable. Fears that ignorant comments about skin color, religion or sexual preference become acceptable and not called out for their blindness. Fears that my family will be torn apart simply because the country they were born in is on a list.

This is when I rely on the people I actively add to my life through social media and through real life connections. I need to hear the stories of people who have these fears, who go through these struggles so I can get past the vagueness of the news and understand how these realities affect real people. People I've connected with over education, over parenting, over growing up in the same town, over working in the same place. Your stories give those situations the face and the voice I need to turn my sympathy to empathy.

A huge thank you to @pernilleripp, @Bali_Maha, @TheBloggess, @TheJLV and @CherylStrayed on Twitter and Camille, Eric and Camron IRL for sharing your stories, helping me get out of my bubble and better understand people who have experiences that are different than mine.

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