"Pop my bubble"
June 13, 2022
We all live in bubbles! You know, the group of people we surround ourselves with, the places of work that have their own language, the faith communities we attend. The bubble you live in determines much of where you are going in life, what you will experience, what you will believe.
When living in poverty, people live in a bubble, the bubble that often makes it impossible to move forward in life, because of lack of access to resources, access to connections and relationships, access to see something beyond their own experiences.
We often talk about ‘popping the bubble’ - giving people access to the things that often seemed impossible in the past. When a parent learns to understand the school system and how to engage in it, the child has more opportunities, the parent feels empowered, and the school learns from the parent. When a teenager gets to use her gifts without being labeled, she can dream about a bigger future. When a child goes on field trips to see something new, they can imagine something else in life. Our centers are ‘bubble poppers’!
Something beautiful happened yesterday (well, it really started years ago). Our kids from our community centers had the opportunity to fly over Merced!!!!! As you might know I run a non-profit in Merced (LifeLine CDC), we are about “empowering impoverished neighborhoods to thrive” using a strength based approach. Our community centers are places where people come together to improve their own lives, the lives of their neighbors and their communities, breaking the cycle of poverty.
Our after school programs provide a safe place for young people to grow, learn and have access to dream bigger. Over the last few years EAA (Experimental Aircraft Assocation) has been partnering with us. This year, they taught our young people about aerodynamics, build small aircrafts together and then through the Young Eagles Program took our young people, parents and staff flying in their airplanes. What an amazing experience!!!! We never experienced anything like it before. We popped bubbles!
This will stay with our people, they will remember what they did, they will be able to dream about being a pilot themselves.
This will also change the EAA - meeting our people, hearing some of their stories, learning from them and with them…… popping their bubbles too.
Let’s pop each other’s bubbles! Help another person learn, open doors for people who lack access, and together let’s experience something new and grow together. Let’s pop some bubbles!