What if I grew up in a big city? What if I didn't have the parents I do? What if I didn't grow up in a small, conservative, rural town?
These are all questions I ask myself. No one gets to choose who their parents are, or where they're born. There isn't a system that let's one pick and choose. It's all left to chance. I wouldn't have been the same person if I didn't grow up in Ohio. I don't think I would have had the same passion to do the things I do now. I made the leap to move all the way to New York City for college. I could have stayed in Ohio and went to the acclaimed Ohio State University, but I didn't. I went against every single one of classmates' decisions to stay in the state. I wanted new experiences. New friends. New opportunities. A whole new life.
Was any of this easy? Surprisingly yes. I felt stifled and smothered in my town. Like I was stuck in a time bubble of decades past. Racists and homophobes are quite present. Fake religious values are even more present. It's really funny in a "wow these sort of people still exist" kind of way. High school sporting events are the major topics of conversation, besides rampant gossip that is. Even though all surrounding towns have almost the same about residents and all look essentially the same, people love to say how their town is the best. The best at what? Being ignorant? Being stuck in toxic, traditional viewpoints?
Now I'm proud of where I come from. It was a nice community, a nice school system, a nice place to grow up. However, most of the people never seem to leave, never experience how life really is. I don't like how people claim their small town is the best place ever when most of them have never traveled outside of the United States. Yet, I knew nothing else for so long but when I got my first taste of NYC I knew there was no turning back, ever. The question I always ask myself is, "what if I didn't grow up in that small town?". Well, I wouldn't be in NYC and my life course would be on an entirely different path right now so for that I am grateful and proud of where I was raised.
These are all questions I ask myself. No one gets to choose who their parents are, or where they're born. There isn't a system that let's one pick and choose. It's all left to chance. I wouldn't have been the same person if I didn't grow up in Ohio. I don't think I would have had the same passion to do the things I do now. I made the leap to move all the way to New York City for college. I could have stayed in Ohio and went to the acclaimed Ohio State University, but I didn't. I went against every single one of classmates' decisions to stay in the state. I wanted new experiences. New friends. New opportunities. A whole new life.
Was any of this easy? Surprisingly yes. I felt stifled and smothered in my town. Like I was stuck in a time bubble of decades past. Racists and homophobes are quite present. Fake religious values are even more present. It's really funny in a "wow these sort of people still exist" kind of way. High school sporting events are the major topics of conversation, besides rampant gossip that is. Even though all surrounding towns have almost the same about residents and all look essentially the same, people love to say how their town is the best. The best at what? Being ignorant? Being stuck in toxic, traditional viewpoints?
Now I'm proud of where I come from. It was a nice community, a nice school system, a nice place to grow up. However, most of the people never seem to leave, never experience how life really is. I don't like how people claim their small town is the best place ever when most of them have never traveled outside of the United States. Yet, I knew nothing else for so long but when I got my first taste of NYC I knew there was no turning back, ever. The question I always ask myself is, "what if I didn't grow up in that small town?". Well, I wouldn't be in NYC and my life course would be on an entirely different path right now so for that I am grateful and proud of where I was raised.
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