Rethinking the bubble mentality

By Matthew Meyerhofer

We enjoy the convenience of material prosperity and social privilege, but we remain insulated from the worries, fears, and problems that plague the rest of the planet. We call this carefree life "The Bubble."

I think that the most misleading aspect of thinking regarding the Santa Clara "bubble" is that it sounds like something external. Some invisible barrier is sitting out there somewhere between Benton Street and El Camino Real, protecting us from the dangerous and upsetting forces of the "outside world," and if this bubble were removed, reality in all its fury would crash down on helpless students.

The reason that I challenge the notion of this bubble as something external is because I'm not sure that anything or anybody is responsible for its existence. The university itself plays a major presence in our lives, providing housing, food, and even some entertainment for its student body, but it isn't as if the university is the protective parent coming to our rescue where we would otherwise perish.

But what then of this "sheltered private college student" stereotype? Is it a myth? Sadly, no. But whatever perceptual distortions afflict the Santa Clara student population, I hardly think we should be looking for some protective guardian. Our impressions of the world are strictly our own.

If it does seem at times that there is one bubble extending over all of us, that has to do much more with our own common subjective illusions than any barriers protecting us from the outside. This would speak to the issue of diversity at Santa Clara. But even here it probably bears worth asking: Are we all living under one big Santa Clara bubble, or are we living under a series of distinct, and self-perpetuating vesicles?

Of course, the positive side of all this is that if bubbles really are of our own making, generated by our own habitual and unvaried ways of looking at the world, then it is also within our own power to pop the bubble. It doesn't even have to be something radical. Joining a new club or organization can do it. So can taking a class in a new subject, or approaching an Arrupe placement with a little less cynicism. Even reading a newspaper can help refocus our eyes so we get a slightly new perspective of the "world out there."

The flipside is something a lot less comforting, because if we are building our own bubbles, then there is the risk of taking them with us when we leave Santa Clara. And all this seems like it is the greatest risk of all, because if there is a point to a liberal arts education, it should be all about dispelling prejudices and developing a much wider world view. Life has too much to offer to fit into one bubble.