Hometown Glory

I wasn’t really dying to write about last week’s events over here on the East Coast.  Mainly because the earthquake and Hurricane Irene have been the topic of conversation almost everywhere.  And also because I didn’t want to be predictable.  But as the natural disasters drifted into “that’s so last week,” I thought about something I DID want to write about, and thought I’d share.

For as long as I can remember in my tiny life (tiny because I’m small, and tiny because I’m not that old), I’ve always been big on location.  You know what they say are the 3 most important things when buying real estate? Location, Location, and Nearby Registered Sex Offenders.  So when I would visit cool places, I would think to myself, “I want to live here!”  And as I got older, I realized how personal people took it when you belittled the place they were from.  “Oh you’re from Boston? I hear they’re pretty racist up there” or “You’re from Nashville?  What do you do over there beside listen to country music?”  There’s pretty much a stigma for every city.  And if you made the effort, there’s also an argument in favor of every city.  And as the rest of the U.S. decided to make the East Coast into “America’s Worst Place to Live Ever” as of late, it got me thinking.

It really makes no difference where you live.  And I mean this in the most shallowest of ways.  Your city, your state, your geographical location…it really means nothing.  The only thing that matters (well, to me at least) is what you find to be important in your life.  If your family is the most important thing in your life, and they happen to live in Boise, Idaho…then guess what? The best place in the world is Boise, Idaho.  If your church is the most important thing in your life, and it happens to be in Morgantown, West Virginia…then…well…maybe not West Virginia (just kidding, folks).

People get bent out of shape trying to defend wherever it is they’re from.  Almost as if you’re personally insulting them if you don’t happen to LOVE their hometown.  And sure, some places are warm and some are cold…some are urban and some are rural.  But if you’re happy there, and you have everything you want and need, then you’re living in the best city in the world.

So give me an earthquake, give me a hurricane, heck, give me a tsunami (not really).  I love where I live because I love what’s here.  And because those other things mean so much to me, I’m willing to take the bad with the good.