Bursting the First-World Bubble

You are probably reading this blog post from the comfort of your living room couch, office, bedroom, college lounge...there's most likely a drink or snack resting at your elbow, just in case you get the munchies...the worst part of your day  was probably the traffic on your commute, causing you to have to sit in the comfortable recesses of your enclosed automobile for a little while longer, listening to NPR or your favorite podcast...or, it could have been that your favorite lunch place was out of your regular lunch choice...

Don't worry, I'm not trying to pick on you. I'm describing myself, and in doing so I end up portraying a lot of you too. Because we are all a part of it. We all have been trapped in it at some point or another, and many of you are still trapped in it. Like an epidemic that encompasses entire countries, the symptoms are pleasant and most don't even know that they are infected. It is the First-World Bubble. Ok, don't act surprised. You already know all about it. But when you live in the First-World Bubble, it is a given that you don't like talking about it, except for the occasional joke of 'first-world problems, haha'. But even then, you don't want to think about it. Because the Bubble is so nice, so comfortable, so warm, so easy...

Over the past few weeks, the Bubble has started to burst for me. And it hasn't  been a pleasant experience. But it's been necessary, because I don't want to live in the Kaelin Show any longer...I want to live in reality, the land of knowing and seeing, experiencing and believing. The bursting of the Bubble has probably had a lot to do with the fact that I walk by homeless people every day, no matter where I go. That I wonder to myself why they are there on the curb, and I'm walking back to a home with everything I need. And the fact that I went to the Holocaust Museum recently and was reminded that people are being murdered each day in the Sudan and North Korea, at the same time that I am walking around enjoying my ultra-comfortable life. And, most importantly, because I have come to the realization that I have always said I believe that everyone is equal, but I don't think I have really understood what it means to believe that until now. It means that the person on the curb has the same right to the happiness that I am enjoying. We are both the same, but I have been given the responsibility of blessings that I must share, not hog for myself. Because we are all family in God's eyes.

It used to be able to walk into a Starbuck's and order whatever I wanted, just because I knew that the drink would add some joy to my day and that's all that mattered. Now, I have this crazy conversation in my head every time I attempt to take part in one of the comforts of the First-World:

Oh, I'd really like a mocha frappuccino, that would nice...it's $4.59 for a tall...that could buy over 900 Gospel Tracts for missionaries to use in Asia...or a few bottles of water for the homeless guy outside on the curb in this crazy heat...or probably feed a starving child for a whole day...

And this happens everywhere, not just Starbuck's, and about everything I do, every bus ride I take, every meal I buy, every pair of shoes that I contemplate purchasing...it just won't stop. When I've tried to express this battle inside myself, the battle between what I know to be true and the world that I live in, I've been told to just try and 'give it up.' But I can't. It's just too real. And the First-World is just too artificial, all plastic and advertisements, make-up and cover-up, short-term joys and long-term heartache.

I once heard someone relate an illustration he had read in a book. If you were walking along in your best dress or suit ( you know the one that cost quite a few days' pay) and you saw a child fall into a body of water and nobody else was there to save them, would you jump in, clothes and all, to save them, even if you knew it would completely ruin that suit or dress? You would hope that you would, right? This situation is happening each day, except that child is just not right beside you. There are millions of them, each dying of common circumstances that could have been halted by us, if only we cared to jump in with the dress on.This hit me hard. What was I doing? Was I going to jump? Was I going to walk on by, enjoying the swish of the dress around my ankles? Would I block out their screams or would I run to their aid?

I'm still struggling with bursting the Bubble, but I think I can see the light. I still don't know when it is okay to treat myself to something, or when I should be writing checks to overseas missions instead of signing bills at restaurants. But I do know one thing. God said to build up our treasures in heaven, not here on earth where they will be destroyed. I want to be a good investor with what God has given me. It's just going to take some time, but I will get there in the end. I always did enjoy bursting bubbles.