Bubble Thought

Did you see that doco on Channel Four last night about ‘The Boy in the Bubble’? I hadn’t heard the story of David Vetter before. He was born without a working immune system and spent the whole 13 years he was alive living inside a transparent plastic chamber pumped with filtered air. He didn’t get to feel the sun on his face, the wind in his hair, or even, until the day he died, the touch of another person’s skin.

I was still thinking about him this morning, struggling to imagine what a life like that would be like, as I was getting my stuff together to go the gym. I found my keys in the same place I’d left them on Sunday afternoon, which made me realise that I hadn’t left the house for about forty hours. (That happens sometimes when I’m working from home.)

Perhaps I’m not as ‘outside the bubble’ as I like to think. I wonder how many of us are? How often do we let fear, lethargy, lack of self-confidence, or social inhibitions hold us back from experiencing - and being - all that we really could be?

Sorry - I know you didn’t come here to be preached at. It’s just, many of the pictures and words that were around yesterday left me with feeling like I wanted to stay in my bubble, until the story of David Vetter helped me remember how lucky I am not to have to. And, I thought, if you felt that way too, maybe hearing about him might do the same for you.

That is, unless you are Bruce Forsythe, Jim Davidson, Kelly Osbourne, or Sara Cox. I’d actually prefer it if you guys got yourselves an opaque, sound proof bubble and hung out in there for at least the next ten years or so. Maybe you could spend some of the time discussing how not to get on my nerves so much. But that is just a suggestion to keep you busy.