Those That Stay and Those Who Go

 I sat yesterday and read a 'Dear Annie' piece (kind of like a Ann Landers piece).  So this lady (figure in her 40s, single, professional in job/life) had this problem.  Her life centered on the family (her parents, and her brother....with his wife and three young kids).  The story is here.....but I'll try to simplify it to ten lines.  

This was a California group.....all born there.....schooled there....living out their lives there.

'Suddenly', the brother announced that he and the family were leaving, and relocating to Texas.  The sister?  Severe case of distraught, and emotionally....barely taking the situation.  

At some point in the piece, the lady says the primary reason driving the brother to leave is 'politics'.  She can't understand this logic though.

So, you have someone who can't handle the brother's family leaving, and she asks if she should speak to the family and try to convince them of the great 'wrong' they are planning.  'Anne' responds....sure, tell him the anxiety you feel....just don't make this a 'us or nothing' situation.

I sat looking over this.  In the past 18 months (Covid era) I've viewed at least a hundred YouTube videos where people have said 'enough', and sought to leave from NY City, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and LA.  They all needed some outlet to explain their logic and reasoning.

One guy, just into retirement and exiting NY City......was a third-generation New Yorker in his family.  His entire life since the mid-1950s was centered on life in the 'big apple'.  This was around six months into the Covid era, and it was a sharp pain to make the decision.....but staying there was near impossible.  His entire life was structured around socializing and pub-hoping in NY City.  Covid destroyed his 'hub' of his life.  So he packed up the house, and moved to Florida (I should note that it took a month of thinking over the idea to reach this conclusion).

One gal....having lived two decades on the outskirts of Portland....couldn't take the destruction of Portland by the Antifa folks in this Covid era.  It was no longer the ideal place, and she left for rural surroundings on the east coast.  

As you look at the hundred-odd people....there are four basic things that fall into place:

1.  Covid or Covid authoritarian rules.  The NY City crowd and the California group often cite this at the very top.  They simply don't know when their lives will ever return, and that length of the unknown....drove them to extreme decision-making....doing something that they would have never done five years prior.

2.  Taxation.  In the case of the NY and California people....they all cited the odd factor that while things were shut down....taxation continued at a normal pace.  There was no relief.  It bothered them even before Covid came, but this just intensified things.

3. Politics.  This ran off in different directions.  Some cited the political climate in California over the homeless folks, and how the police were helpless.  Some cited the ease of drugs on the streets.  Some cited the crime rates going up.  Some cited the irresponsible behavior of the city council/mayors.  

4.  Finally, real people.  Several folks from California talked at length about increasing public behavior of fakeness (being ultra-fragile about feelings).  You can call it the 'safe-space' crowd,  You could be standing at a patio bar-b-q, and get some lecture about some topic....where they are directing you to live x-life or x-style....without any alternate discussion.  This lecture mentality is something that you rarely saw five years ago.

So I look at the landscape and kinda wonder....if Covid doesn't end in 2021, can I even expect it to end in 2022, or 2023?  If so....why would I stay in in Seattle, NY City, or SF?  I don't want the homeless camped out in my yard.  I don't want to worry about drugged-out nutcases at the grocery store.  I don't want lectures given every four hours.  And I don't want to worry about fragile people who can't handle reality....begging constantly to escape off to a 'safe space'.  

More to move?  I expect another wave of people giving up in 2022....a million-odd people from the urbanized areas....giving up.  There is life elsewhere.....you just need some motivation.  In the end, we will end up with two societies.....those who stay, and those who go.  Which will be the grumbling group in the end?