Jumping through hoops

This idiom came from animal performances in circuses, where some kind of large cat would jump through hoops on fire.

Let’s be clear, those types of hoops were for entertainment and objectively kind of cruel. The most famous example being TPS Reports from Office Space.

Hoops are cruel. Barriers, however, are completely different and can be good sometimes.

A barrier that separates everyone from being qualified to those who are not can be important. After all, you wouldn’t want someone to perform a root canal that watched some videos on YouTube.

Not all barriers are necessary though. We can all agree that having someone use a different drinking fountain cause of the color of their skin is wrong.

Understanding what we should embrace and which need to be torn down is a good start at opening doors of possibilities for others.