It's not exactly about Dryden, but I love the observations in NYCO's American Dream entry.
As I've gotten into local politics, one of my biggest worries is that too many people see themselves as just passing through, stopping by on a path that will hopefully lead them to the four-bathroom house with a not too horribly painful commute. A lot of young people seem to want to get on that path, if they haven't lived it already.
It took me a few years before I felt strongly enough that I lived here to engage with the Dryden community and its politics, but I know lots of people who never seem to put down roots. My first seven years or so involved a lot of travel - I spent three years in Seoul, South Korea - but I'm very glad my parents decided to buy a house and settle in Corning. After a few years of my own traveling I've ended up forty miles from where I grew up, and I'm happy to stay here rather than chase whatever opportunities might lead me from my one-bathroom bungalow to a four-bathroom McMansion.
I feel bombarded every day with suggestions that I should be striving harder and harder to make more, to go wherever I can profit the most. A lot of people seem to listen to those suggestions. I'd rather stay here, do what I'm reasonably good at, and learn from the people around me. Looking around, it does seem like a fair number of people feel the same way, and that gives me hope.
Posted by simon at June 1, 2005 8:56 AM in why