It's a persuasive rant, especially your experience as confronting the same changes and doing something about it!
Question re the difference between you and those who remained in the Rust Belt to complain about it all: To leave behind where you grew up and lived and find your way to a new place takes a lot of something. Character? Self-confidence? Strength? Not sure. But the image I get of those who remained behind is whatever individual strength they had depended on the social group they were part of. They couldn't imagine separating from that. We humans ARE social beings.
I say that even though I also left my home town 2 years after I graduated from college and three years later moved across the country because I was pursuing a performing career that started in my home town. I had a big extended family, but I was different. I needed more than that. It took guts for me to make my way to some place new. Lots of performers I knew in both NYC and LA did that. I stayed close to my family and my school friends, but there was something greater than those relationships for me. I think I, and you, are unusual in that respect.
I am an introvert and have never been particularly social nor have I ever really felt a need to socialize or be part of a group--usually the reverse. Most of the groups I have been associated with (usually at work) I have never actually felt a part of or connected to.
My focus has always been inward/intellectual.
I am not a psychopath or sociopath, in fact my sense of empathy is pretty strong (I have always found it rather easy to put myself in someone else's shoes, figuratively speaking--which actually makes me a pretty good rhetorician) and I have a pretty rigid set of principles... but the reality is that I do not actually LIKE most people. I tend to (to be frank) find them either boring or not too bright and often irritating (which is hilarious because I teach HS--but I find it easier to accept foolishness and stupidity from adolescents than from adults--they at least have an excuse).
That made it easy for me to pull up stakes and move on. Serving in the military (where you move every few years anyway) made it even easier.
It's a persuasive rant, especially your experience as confronting the same changes and doing something about it!
Question re the difference between you and those who remained in the Rust Belt to complain about it all: To leave behind where you grew up and lived and find your way to a new place takes a lot of something. Character? Self-confidence? Strength? Not sure. But the image I get of those who remained behind is whatever individual strength they had depended on the social group they were part of. They couldn't imagine separating from that. We humans ARE social beings.
I say that even though I also left my home town 2 years after I graduated from college and three years later moved across the country because I was pursuing a performing career that started in my home town. I had a big extended family, but I was different. I needed more than that. It took guts for me to make my way to some place new. Lots of performers I knew in both NYC and LA did that. I stayed close to my family and my school friends, but there was something greater than those relationships for me. I think I, and you, are unusual in that respect.
Your thoughts?
I am an introvert and have never been particularly social nor have I ever really felt a need to socialize or be part of a group--usually the reverse. Most of the groups I have been associated with (usually at work) I have never actually felt a part of or connected to.
My focus has always been inward/intellectual.
I am not a psychopath or sociopath, in fact my sense of empathy is pretty strong (I have always found it rather easy to put myself in someone else's shoes, figuratively speaking--which actually makes me a pretty good rhetorician) and I have a pretty rigid set of principles... but the reality is that I do not actually LIKE most people. I tend to (to be frank) find them either boring or not too bright and often irritating (which is hilarious because I teach HS--but I find it easier to accept foolishness and stupidity from adolescents than from adults--they at least have an excuse).
That made it easy for me to pull up stakes and move on. Serving in the military (where you move every few years anyway) made it even easier.
Thanks. I am an inward/intellectual introvert too and find most people to be a bore.