Anybody want to move to Steelers country?

[Belsnickel]

(02-05-2021, 05:09 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: I feel like it has less to do with one region over another, and is more of an overall thing that can happen anywhere.  I was born and raised in Cincinnati, left when I went to college.  Since then I've traveled to 46 of the 50 states and lived all over the country.  I didn't hate Cincy growing up, but I really don't like going back now for more than a few days every couple of years.  Why?  Because I've had the opportunity to see so many places and meet so many different people.  I can see things through various perspectives.  People that never leave a region tend to have more tunnel vision.  And that's what I see in the family I still have back in Ohio.  It's like a time capsule.  Nothing ever changes.  I've driven 18 hours to visit just to have family members refuse to come visit at one person's house or the other because they don't want to cross the great divide from eastside to westside or vice versa.  

I think if you've had the opportunity to experience life a bit more outside of the bubble into which you were born, you're more likely to see the flaws and areas for improvement.  And that's been the case for literally every place I have ever lived or visited when you meet locals who have lived there all their lives and never seen anything else.  

I also think that you see where you're from Stewy as a place of challenges.  That in order to grow or be the best you needed to get out, you needed space, you needed to start fresh.  I think someone like Belsnickel sees history and culture and is able to live in that and enjoy it because they're looking at the journey that led them to that moment.  Totally different approaches, most likely the result of completely different family lives, friends, etc.  I can't ever see myself moving back to Cincinnati, but the rest of my family (immediate and extended) living there?  They can't imagine being any place else.  People are funny and very different, but there are similar patterns no matter where you live.  

I have to admit that if I had grown up in the area where I was born, I would probably have a different attitude. My family moved out of SW PA when I was a year old because of the lack of opportunities for jobs. I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley, bordering West Virginia, but just better off economically. I still have pride in the folks in my area. Reading the history of the area my family is from is a great time and I appreciate what I come from. When I have been out in the Midwest the culture is just so bland to me, same for the west coast. I've traveled a good bit around the country, I just always come back.

I love our mountains. They may not be the Rockies, but they once would've made them look small. Our mountains are older than bones (literally, they formed before creatures with bones had yet evolved) and the stories they have to tell are amazing. I don't ignore the problems in Appalachia, but I also know it is much richer and more diverse than a lot of people tend to realize.

Anyway, I'll get off my rant about Appalachia.