One day in February my advisory and I went to Civic Center Park in Berkeley. Because the park draws a lot of homeless people, beforehand, we packed blankets, socks, sweaters, soap, food, anything a homeless person might need. We drove to the park and once we got there I was nervous. I had never interacted with homeless people this much before. We, as an advisory, handed out bags of goods. In the park, amongst the people living there, there was only one woman. She was far away from all of the others and she was the only one to have a proper shelter: a bench covered in tarp and trash bags. She was bundled in many layers of clothing and she bowed her head in gratitude. We moved on to the larger group; they were also very thankful. I felt awkward because my school is a private school that has a high tuition and they probably knew we were privileged. Normally at school we don’t realize we are privileged because we are in a bubble of privileged people. It’s good to leave your bubble; you will learn a deeper understanding of your privileges, make you thankful for what you have, and want to help others who are less fortunate than you.

A bubble is somewhere you feel safe, where you feel like you fit in. It can be based on your popularity, race, gender, and a lot more. I, for example have three main school bubbles—one you would call the popular group, one where the people aren’t as popular but are nicer and I feel more comfortable being myself, and the last being an Asian group where we wouldn’t be friends if it weren’t for our parents bringing us together. These bubbles have made me tougher, nicer, and more diligent. The positive side of having a few different peer bubbles is that it makes you make friends with a lot of people, especially in a small private school. The negative is that you have to find time to hang out with all of them.  

At a young age you get comfortable with the bubbles your parents create, but sometimes you have to break the habit of depending on your parent’s bubble. Inside my parent’s bubble, I value effort, education, result and the process of trying to reach a goal. These are good values but they can limit my interactions to people who value the same things as me and restrict my ability to understand different people’s values. Life in a privileged bubble can blind your knowledge of different bubbles. Another downside can be that not everyone can have this experience because, unfortunately, not everyone has the same resources. For example, the resource to travel somewhere new and immerse yourself in a different culture, or live in a community full of inspiring people who encourage you to try something new everyday, or the chance to start over, to have your own life without having to worry about others. As Michelle, an inmate at the Alameda Youth Detention Center said, “I didn’t have the best life growing up. I grew up without a mother or a father. My grandma played both parts as a parent, not only to me but to the other grandkids, working hard to keep a roof over our heads. Many times we had beans and rice for days. I didn’t have much of a childhood. I was forced to give that up at a very early age and help my grandma look after my cousins and my baby sister.” Not everyone has the resources they deserve. Everyone has different statuses and some people are born into the upper class and don’t have to work to be wealthy, while other people are born into the lower class and have to work their butts off to get somewhere in life. You can be a better person by leaving your bubble for a bit because you will value your resources and show compassion towards the less fortunate. Meanwhile, the other side will gain from you leaving your bubble because it will show them that someone cares about them and they can also gain resources directly from you.

Although bubbles define where you belong you should always go outside and explore other bubbles, whether it’s class, values, popularity, or race. Once you do you will have a deep understanding of how lucky you really are and not take anything for granted. After our visit to the Civic Center Park, I was happy that we had helped so many people in need and that I had learned how very lucky I am to go to my school and to have access to so many things. People come from different backgrounds so you need to respect everyone and educate yourself on bubbles that you’re blinded from.