We all live in bubbles. My main bubble has always been IBM. Everyone there, and therefore most of the people I know are all of a type. The plain truth is that all IBMers of my age are middle class, well educated, and have, or had good incomes. All have comfortable lives, most like and understand technology, and are worldly wise. This is reflected in my personal life too, where, because of the things I do, I tend to meet and have friends that are also of the very same type. One thing that is common to just about everyone I know is that they are what they are and are very happy with their lot. Nobody is trying to prove anything to anyone. Some more or less so, but still within limits.
This all leads me to have a tendency to think that everyone even outside the bubble is also the same and of course nothing could be further from the truth. I now know that my bubble is probably not at all reflective of the typical person, or even of a typical middle-class person. This week I had an encounter with a person who projected an image of needing to prove a great deal. His whole demeanour was completely different; impressions were everything to him, he wore a different style of clothes and acted and spoke on a very different level. Everything seemed calculated to impress, but the odd thing was that he seemed totally unaware of how those around them perceived these things or their receptiveness to his stance. Basically, this person was missing the target altogether and was coming across as annoying and patronising through no fault of his own. I can imagine that all his friends and colleagues were just like him, but the problem was that his bubble worked differently to mine and we were incompatible.
Similarly, through what I do a couple of day each week, I come into contact with people in lots of other bubbles where their lives are dominated by confusion, uncertainty, violence, or acceptance, or not, that they have very little control over.
If you like the bubble you find yourself in, just make the most of it while you can.
