Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

Social media is a cursed blessing. I get a general sense of what is going on in the lives of friends, family, acquaintances, and colleagues, helping me to see what they look like, what is important to them, what they think. And, as I said, it's a blessing and a curse. Without social media, I could assume everybody I knew thought as I did, with the same political views or lifestyle choices or what-have-you. As I discover that such an assumption is not true, it becomes difficult not to "weed out" the dissimilars so that I am (virtually) surrounded by people who think and act like me. Truthfully, I still might do that if the dissenting voice is some person I don't know that well. But I can't do that with family. I'm stuck with them. For life. and also for after-life, considering I believe families are forever. So basically, what I'm saying is: one of my aunts [ good luck figuring out which one. I have about 16 aunts, assuming all of my uncles are married to...

Sometimes, in unprecedented times such as now, truths become crystal clear--that life is valuable, that friendship makes hard things bearable, and that we have ingrained flaws. Not that being flawed is solely our fault, but correcting--or even acknowledging--those flaws most certainly is our responsibility. For example, when I was in elementary school, I was under the impression that race relations had been resolved during the civil rights movement. Turns out that was wrong, but I still had no clear grasp of the extent of the problem; I next thought that affirmative action was stupid and unnecessary. And then, at my next progression of mind, I thought that I was becoming fairly non-biased and non-discriminatory. And I was in that mindset until I listened to the experiences of people of color. My new truth: there is no way I can fully grasp what it is like to face constant discrimination of a kind that threatens my life. I suspect I will always have some bit of bias, because how can I e...