Life in a Bubble

There are 15 rare earth elements sitting at the bottom of the periodic table.  Just sitting their minding their own business and being as rare as can be.  No one seems to care that much about them, that’s why they’re at the bottom.  Who would want to associate with these nondescript and “rare” elements when they could just as easily rise a few sections and canoodle with the greats like gold and silver, helium and hydrogen and if you have a mean streak you could move toward the right and play with the more dangerous elements like chlorine, Arsenic, and the likes of plutonium and Francium.

The rare earths are however not really that rare and in fact quite plentiful what makes them rare is the difficulty in extracting them from their surrounding environment.   But when they are separated these “rare Earth” elements have proven to be very useful in upgrading or enhancing the properties of the more common elements.  So maybe the label of “rare” should be changed to exceptional.

Like so many of us we plod along through life floating around like a happy balloon filled with Helium and some of the more explosive gasses like hydrogen just waiting for someone to pop our bubble, giving us an excuse to burst out of our protective environment.  Many are too afraid to bring out that needle and do the deed ourselves, that would be irresponsible to some and too scary for others.  

Floating is so nice while concealed and protected , bopping up and down, blowing to and fro with the winds of the day, never really having to decide if right is good or left is better, up or down, decisions just come as our bubble encounters the everyday turbulence or the more volatile issues of hitting other bubbled individual.  Heaven forbid we actually have to interact with another person at a personal level.  

Many might think that while existing within those bubbles freedom is defined as the ability to just sit and see what happens, never really taking a proactive approach to guiding the bubble toward a specific destination.  Most are content with simply waiting to see where the bubble will land satisfied with whatever will be will be…Que_Sera,_Sera, never realizing the potential of creating a life for themselves.

Societies in general are made up of large bubbles that encompass specific groups of individuals going about their lives without the understanding of where their being blown too or how their bubble is being guided for the benefits of others and not themselves.  The problem with floating around is that the Helium gasses that support these lofty chariots of privacy are starving the brain of its Oxygen and at the same time is becoming more rare each year as once huge reserves are being depleted creating its own level of rarity. 

Helium is becoming scarce and with that scarcity the inevitability of those millions of floating souls crashing to the ground toward a new reality that requires personal choice, sacrifice and hard work.  They will have to understand the consequences of life without the protection of their bubble and learn how to mine for those rare earths to augment their new predicament. 

Rare Earths are not really rare their just hard to get but when they are achieved they are worth their weight in Gold, probably worth more actually.  It’s these rare earth examples that should give us pause as we start our precipitous descent from lofty pacifist to active participant.  We will soon be faced with the real decisions of a government that is either for us or against us, companies that work for us or against us, personal habits that work for our benefit or are detrimental.  We can no longer sit idly by, floating around and waiting to land, thinking that we will be coddled and warmed, protected and cared for, those days are gone.  

It really it's time to start digging into the earth, getting our fingers dirty our hands callused and stained from the soil that will provide us with what we really need, self-respect, honest labor and a few grahams of confidence, we can be the masters of our destiny.  Those rare elements are all around us, but they are not easy to extract but when we do put forth the effort the results are astounding.

Spiritual rare Earth elements are those that make each of us stronger and more self-reliant; unseen elements like integrity, honesty, perseverance and perhaps the most important, Charity for others. When combined with the mundane elements of life these rare earth combinations transform us as individuals and exalt us as a people , bridging the  gap of past societal woes and hatred, helping everyone to realize that we are all made in the Image of God and are therefore all worthy of His favors equally.  

All we have to do is pop that bubble that surrounds us, breathe the sweet air of independence, get on our hands and knees and dig deep for the answers that only God has for each of us.  Mine those precious elements that when combined with our own potential divinity will ensure solid synthesis of strength and compassion that will stand the winds of adversity and the trials of life in all its furry.