The Bubbles We Live In

The tech bubble. The real estate bubble. Financial bubbles always seem to be in the news. But financial bubbles aren’t the only bubbles that affect our daily lives. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m getting my MBA right now. And when you’re in graduate school full time, you’re in a bubble. Your life is focused on getting assignments done, reading what needs to be read, and getting the best grades. It’s hard to directly connect how what you’re doing on a daily basis is beneficial to your long term goals. But you hope that the hard work you are putting in will pay off in the end.

That bubble was shattered yesterday when one of the international students in my program physically attacked another student. Something in him just snapped. I don’t have much information, but I do know that he was arrested and that charges will be filed. He will probably be kicked out of the Honors MBA program I’m in which would cause him to lose his student visa and be sent back to his home country. This student was top of our class and had a highly coveted Chase internship last summer. He was heading places. And in one fell swoop….all is gone. We’re living in the real world. And the real world has consequences.

This idea of bubbles bursting is even more prominent in the horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai. These events of the past few days have shook me to the core. I know that terrorist attacks happen all the time. And I have never been naive enough to think that we should sit down and try to compromise with these people. But what happened (and still happening) in Mumbai goes beyond a typical attack. This was a coordinated event that targets Americans, Britains, and Jews. Hostages weren’t taken first. Random acts of killing came first. Life was not valued at all here. These people had no agenda (that we know of) other than to kill and terrorize. And regardless of what world opinions are, we all need to come together and not only condemn these attacks, but work together to find and eliminate these terrorist groups (and ALL terrorist groups). We need to stop living in this bubble that makes us think that we’re safe. There are people out there who want to kill us (the civilized world). And we (the civilized world) need to find them and kill them first. Some may call it war. I think of it as self defense.