Friday, July 27, 2012

Heffalumps

As I write this, it is of course an ungodly hour of the night/morning, depending on your overall outlook on such matters. On top of that, I find myself back in the intellectually devoid cesspool that is Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Thankfully, my time here will be short - a few days, at most - and I won't have to be subjected to the aura of decay and stagnation that permeates the environment here like an oil spill.

It's sad, really. I have spent a good amount of time away from this place, and upon my return, I find that very little has changed. A few new buildings have sprouted up, mostly more chain companies trying to penetrate the more bucolic environs of America in hopes of gaining even more of those fat-ass dirty dollars that we all seem to be so obsessed with, but the people are just the same as ever.

It strikes me as sad, however. I feel for these people the same way that one feels for the broken and destitute who have nowhere else to go. These people are born here. They live here all their lives, doing their best to carve out some kind of niche for themselves. They find someone that they can stand for longer than ten minutes at a time and procreate. They raise their children, and then die here. They never leave. The children go on to perpetuate the cycle.

This breaks my heart.

I think it's mostly because I cannot fathom the idea of wanting to stay in one place your entire life. Some people are content with that, and that's fine, but do you ever stop to really think about what the world outside of your town of choice might be like? There's literally an entire planet full of wonders and amazing things to witness and experience, and you can honestly sit there and tell me that you don't care about all that, that this land you're on is the only land you care about? I would - and do - find that very hard to believe.

But listen to me, sitting here, waxing eloquent about the merits of travelling and expanding your horizons. That's hardly what I want to talk about.

Come to think of it, I'm not entirely sure just what it is that I do want to talk about. I am about to see one of my best friend's married, and shortly after, I am undergoing the Great Migration and moving out to California. As of August the 6th, I will officially be a California resident. Things are about to move in a great way; I can feel it in my gut.

And yet here I am, sitting in Chambersburg, wising that I was somewhere else. I really hate this town, and already I can feel it poking and prodding at my very soul, trying to suck me back into its sweet oblivion. No, my friends. This will not do. This will not do at all.

Until the next time I remember that I have a responsibility to this blog.

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