There are many pros and cons to moving around a bit and living in different areas. I remember growing up I was jealous of those people who had lived somewhere their entire lives. That had friends, connections, and family all around them and could get used to an environment. I always hated how much I moved around, starting fresh every time. Sure it taught me some life skills (life skills that could have been attained in other ways) but overall I hated it.
I went to a kindergarten in a place completely different than preschool (which I moved twice during). Which was a completely different place from elementary school. I went to a completely different place for 7th grade and then another place for 8th grade. I went three different places my 9th grade year and made another change before graduation. Then I went to two different colleges and bounced around after that. Community and roots are something I’ve usually looked at from afar.
Not to say I’ve never experienced them in my life, I have at certain times. Rather I’m saying I know what bouncing around is like and I’ve been able to experience a large swath of cultures, geographical locations, even social classes and lived among different majorities at different times. It was a “sight seeing” experience that I know many don’t ever get the chance to have. Personally I think every man should roam a little bit, see the world around him but that’s a topic for another time.
What I Learned
Not all places are the same, that’s for sure. One place could fit you like a glove while another you could hate with all your heart. Now granted moving doesn’t solve your personal issues and if you have personal issues holding you back then moving isn’t going to do any good. Likewise the grass is not always greener, depending on how you’re looking at it. But in traveling something that I thought was dumb were people who would pack up and move somewhere for a reason like “the weather.”
This was usually people from the Midwest where it can get pretty damn cold moving to a sunnier state. They expect the sunny state the be just like the Midwest, except well sunny. As much as I like them, Midwestern people are generally very naive, especially when it comes to cultures being different. They think everyone acts the same as small town Americans and are often in for a culture shock in the places they go. They think if they avoid New York/California they’re good but it’s far more complicated than that.
This goes for other people as well, it’s just the Midwest provides the best contrast as it’s so homogeneous in so many places. Which makes Midwesterners naive in a great many aspects. Like I said relatively good people but often naive. And many end up in places they never wanted to be, dealing with situations they never thought they’d deal with, and impacting their families in ways they never wanted them to be impacted. Same can be said otherways as well. Different places are different and not just in weather. Some places are different culturally and some places are more corrupted than others.
Why I’m Harping On This
Now granted you might be saying “Charles, we get it. Moving to an area “like you” is important but you already said this.” I know, but here’s the thing. Most don’t understand how important this is and as we can see things are only heating up across the world. Lines are being drawn and the fear is that once those lines “go live” it’ll be hard to near impossible to get out from where you are. Right now the pieces are still movable, right now there still leeway. You can still go here or there and unless in a major city relatively safer (but not completely safe) from violence and harm.
But that’ll change soon. I don’t mean to sound like an alarmist and I’m not saying the world is going to end or anything. Just that lines are hardening and people are at each others throat and that’s not going to go away. We have an untenable situation in the Western world and it’ll eventually have to work itself out here sooner or later. And it looks like sooner more and more (but who knows, things have a way of delaying themselves far longer than they should).
Humans are tribal by nature, often violently so. Nature has a way of reasserting itself, often with force. Different people don’t like to be around each other and this goes beyond race (though race like every differentiating factor matters in human relations obviously). White people from Kansas don’t tend to like White people from New York, or at least not agree with culturally and other ways. Likewise even in New York certain kinds of White people don’t like other “kinds” of White people and so on and so forth.
What’s To Be Done
Moving somewhere because of the weather is like going to a war torn town in the Middle East because you want a good kebab. At best, not very smart. Who are you and what do you want? Because you should move somewhere that is going to provide that for you in the long term. Always work on yourself and don’t blame personal problems on the geography, always take responsibility yourself. But still get somewhere that you want to be and like and then protect that place that you want to be and like.
Enclaves and small towns are going to be the way to go for most people. Big cities are getting more and more divided and violence increasing in all of them. Find where “your people” are and go to them. Join them, grow them, protect them, guide them, and become a part of them. Atomized individuals never stood much of a chance in this world. The strength is in the group, in the collective. Go find yours and become a part of it.
