When I was training as an air traffic control specialist I had a trainer that was Hispanic. He was one of my best trainers. He quizzed me on aircraft types and capabilities, he quizzed me on airport approaches and how to read approach plates and Airways and what it must be like in the cockpit even though he had never been in one.
He talked about his children a lot. He drove a full-size conversion van because he wanted his children to have legroom and space when they drove back and forth between Miami and Atlanta. He loved his children and wanted them to grow up knowing their culture.
He talked about how all the6 spoke at home was Spanish and they only watched TV in Spanish. Because he wanted them to know and grow up learning as a family but he also knew that they would learn English in school and they would interact with the rest of the world in English.
His dedication to isolating them in the Hispanic world when they were at home was amazing.
With the ubiquity of the Internet and the invasiveness of Internet video and audio that whole thing is possible but it's also possible to break it.
As a Caucasian heterosexual monogamous father of four in a happily married relationship I tried to isolate myself in different ways that are similar to what my trainer did for his Hispanic family. I watch videos on conservative subjects. I do meditations that are Christian-based. I listen to music that I listened to when I was in my teens and early 20s.
The Internet and the technology that we have available allows us to build bubbles around us. As I read about bigwigs and CEOs and rich people and all of that I see bubbles that are impenetrable. To the point that they don't even think like I do.
I hope and pray that I'm not isolating myself in my bubbles. That I stay connected to the people actually doing things and making businesses and society work. But it's scary to think that I purposefully disconnect from a lot of the world around me to reduce my stress and give me focus on what I'm trying to grow and do.
I love the clarity that my trainer had. I've struggled to try to get to that level of clarity.
