City vs. Country

Now from my last couple of rants, you may think I just flat out hate all Country folk. Far from it. What I hate is stupidity, closed mindeness and intolerance. That's what I hate. I was born in San Francisco, but only lived there until I was 2. My folks moved to a Suburb called South San Francisco about 25 minutes South. We lived there until I was 4 because Mom was pregnant with my Sis and we needed a house and not an apartment. So we moved to San Bruno, the City directly South of South San Francisco. Now I will admit, I'm a City boy. But not really. I grew up in the 'Burbs. Cookie cutter houses with little sections of greenery called Lawns, sidewalk in front of the house, big back yard, and lots of fences. Each house also had these wonderful little Hedge rows that seperated your house from your neighbors. Everyone knew everyone else, and it was the perfect Nuclear Family community. People went to church, but not the same churches, and no one went around spouting Bible verses all day with every other word coming out of their mouths being "God" or "Jesus". There were lots of cars, and the only wildlife was cats and dogs and the occasional chicken (we had some Latino neighbors). There was a shopping mall about a 10 minute walk from the house. We had a public library and several schools. It was a very blue collar town. No we had our share of morons and idiots, just like everyone else. Yes, life was simple. Now some would say, "But Steve you grew up in a City with lots of advantages....". Sure I did. I grew up in San Bruno. The rich folk lived in the hills and only cared about their part of the City. I lived on "the wrong side of the tracks" as they say. Literally as there were two rail lines that ran past our house. The industrial area of San Bruno was a 5 minute walk from the house, and I lived in the flight path of SFO. Our neighborhood eventually became a ghetto (I moved out as did my folks long before that happened). Now I've always liked living with people next to me. I've always liked having a fence between me and my neighbors. I believe in the adage "good fences make good neighbors." Would I love a lot of land? Of course, but I would landscape the crap out of it, and build a huge house on it. It wouldn't just sit there. Could I live in the country? Not really. In the country, if you aren't raising your own food, you have to go get it from somewhere. This usually means making a trek to the next town (a trek of a good long distance) to shop. Now I know all Country folks aren't slack jawed yokels. They live simple lives; much like I did in the Burbs that I grew up in. There are sterotypes, that unfortunately are truly represented in both areas. Take my buddy Ricky Bobby from Algood. I equated Algood and Cookeville with San Bruno. Both are Cities (even though those that live in the County section of town sometimes think it's the Country) where there are schools and a University. Yet there are slews of people like Ricky Bobby. He went to school, he had every opportunity to become someone, yet he chose to be lazy and not bother to pay attention in class, etc. Hey chose to become a Southern Stereotype. My Wife grew up in Algood....she is intelligent, a much more creative writer than I will ever be, is a wonderful artist, has a great eye for artistic things (you should see her photography and scrapbooking layouts....). She went to the same schools as Ricky Bobby, grew up with some of the same people, yet turned out to be a Cultured Human Being. You should meet her Mom. My Mother-in-Law is an intelligent, Cultured Human Being as well. That's the other Southern Stereotype; the honorable, cultured types. They chose to be Civilized. They know how to use punctuation when typing; and use good grammar as well. The people like RB who choose to become dumb hicks are the people I honestly feel sorry for. You could have risen above it all, but you chose not too. I could have followed in my Father's footsteps and become a Teamster; I didn't. Not that there was anything wrong with being a Teamster, I just wanted to do something else. We as Human Beings have freewill. Our destiny is not set by God or economic status. We decided who we are going to become. Just because you grow up in the Ghetto doesn't mean you have to become a Gang Banger........it's a hard choice not to go that route, but it's a choice you can make.