We've seen them all over this summer. Well, not so much in St. Louis, but definitely in NYC and now in Bermuda. And I can't take credit for the label: Bubble People. Bos was the one that first noticed and labelled it. You see, everywhere we turn we see these pre-teens, teens, 20's, 30's, even 40's for which the label seems absolutely appropriate!
Who are these Bubble kids? They appear to be the offspring of the very wealthy, who grew up wealthy and, inside their bubbles, have no idea what it is like to live a "normal" life. In fact, they figure the lives they are leading are normal. For everyone. Well, maybe not for everyone. But those who don't have a bubble life really don't count.
These are the kids who don't know how to get up from a crowded bus to offer their seat to an elderly person. These are the kids who stay at the best hotels, eat at the best restaurants, who hobnob with the children of their parents "bubble friends." They all go to prep schools and follow that with Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale, even Harvard. Certainly Duke. Maybe Vanderbilt, if they want to step down a bit. And, if they do an internship, it is with the Wealth Management Division of J.P. Morgan Chase, arranged by their parents.
And the young wives all have huge diamond rings and earrings, beachbags from Lily Pulitzer, and custom made golf clubs to match their husbands' clubs. The trappings of wealth. At such an early age. They are the first to sign up for a day at the spa and they have nannies at home, if not with them at the beach.
What, I wonder, what do they think of the rest of us? Or DO they think of the rest of us? At all? And, if their fortune were suddenly to leave them, how would they adapt to the regular working world?! I also wonder how their children, babies now, will adapt to the real 21st century. Or will they HAVE to adapt. Can they, too, continue in a bubble? For generations?? The irony is: the bubble people THINK they are living a normal life. They don't know they have privilege that the rest of the world can only dream of.
Maybe that is why the Republicans are working so hard to not pay more taxes! They certainly don't want the "bubble" to burst. To force their children to have to find work outside of Wall Street or their best friends' companies. On the fast track now. Will it last?
So, if you think these posh hotels should be for oldies who are enjoying their golden years, think again. Doubt that we oldies lived in a "bubble." We say that somewhat wistfully.
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It does make me distressed to see so many people concerned with their personal luxury and not about the greater good. When you define yourself based upon the things you own and the contents of your bank account, it creates an awful backwards situation where those with money feel that they are virtuous in some manner, and those poor feel that they have failed in some manner. This means when you get riots like in London, the looters grab designer clothes, shoes and Apple products. We saw in the South Central LA (Rodney King) as well. But basically there is little difference in outlook between these folks and the bubble people - the important difference is the bubble people have a pile of cash to draw upon so they can feel they have succeeded even though they only have had the luck of a well monied birth.
ReplyDeleteTHe middle classes have this outlook - and a well paid lawyer working 50 hours a week feels "they worked hard and earned it" dismissing a less well paid construction worker working similar hours but much harder work.
Life isn't fair, and inequality of pay is part of it - but reading morality into it as we do is a terrible development - and these huge disparities of wealth, we must recognize, keep people apart form each other and makes a shallow pernicious and overly materialistic society if we let it. Perhaps some day we'll stop, eh?
People live in all kinds of bubbles. The privileged live in the kind of bubbles you describe. But, my former clients (back when I was a public defender) were poor...and they lived in a bubble where they could read everything anyone asked them to do as the result of prejudice, intolerance, injustice, or other form of unfairness.
ReplyDeleteI am sad to see as many people without the ability to look at things from others' perspectives in the world.