There once was a man who wished to only breathe pure air. He bought a space suit and pressurized his home. When he was at home, he was surrounded only by his own filtered air. And when he went out, he took only his own air with him.

He looked silly walking through the grocery store in a space suit, but he never got sick. It was lonely—never being able to have a conversation, or feel the wind blow, or go out to eat—but he was safe, effectively living in his very own world.

He especially wished to speak to the woman who checked out his groceries each week. For years he resisted. But one day, the temptation became so strong, he popped off his helmet and asked her out to dinner—right there in the grocery store.

She was a kind soul and felt bad for him, so she agreed.

That evening, he picked her up—outside, for the first time in many years, without his space suit. They went out to dinner and ate and spoke as he had not done in decades. They walked through the city park, and as they walked, he became aware that his own filtered air had become quite stale. There were smells of flowers and trees and of coming rain.

The man went home and immediately depressurized his house. He went to sleep joyful from the day’s events.

When he woke up, he was deathly ill. His body was unused to the true air that all of humanity commonly breathes. Still, he kept his house unpressurized and sold his space suit on eBay. For years, he ended up hospitalized with illnesses that any normal two-year-old could have fought off with ease. But still, he reveled in the world as if newly discovered. He found even the companionship of nurses, doctors, and fellow patients to be of much greater value than the stale, safe air he had breathed for so long.

Conclusion

Our culture is increasingly choosing safety over connection—not only physical safety, but emotional safety as well.

We tend to only spend time with people who hold the same views and values we do. Because we are only breathing our own stale air, when we finally connect with people who think differently from us, we may find it actually shakes us to the core.

In removing all the mystery and risk from existence, we’ve allowed disagreement and uncertainty to undo us in ways that should simply be part of daily life.

Perhaps it’s time we depressurize our homes.
It’s time we engage the community that surrounds us—not just pursue the tribe that reflects us.
It’s time to step out and breathe the fresh air of all creation.