With a population consisting of just over seven thousand people, Cortland, Ohio is a minuscule dot when viewed from the perspective of the Earth as a whole. When analyzed, not much consists of this small town with it's highlights being Mosquito Lake and Sparkle Market. However, this is not to say that Cortland is a terrible town to live in; we must take into consideration that we were ranked as one of the best cities to retire in. Despite this honorable recognition, Small Town Blues is a disease that plagues at least one of every ten of the city's inhabitants. When students graduate from high school, many of them yearn for something more, something bigger than what they've been confined to for their childhood. They migrate to cities that offer more excitement, more opportunities, more adventure. The wandering spirit within them knows that there is vast world to discover.
Living in Cortland has limited how we view the rest of the world and the cultures that reside within it. We say that the sunsets at Mosquito Lake are the most astounding sunsets we have ever seen, until we are able to view the sunsets at the ocean on the shores of the Bahamas. We say that the Mexican food at El Torero is the best Mexican food we have ever tasted until we are able to taste the rejuvenating flavors of the cuisines prepared in Cozumel, Mexico. We are confined to the meager experiences that this town has to offer until we are able to discover the wonders that the world has to offer. Until we travel and encounter the multitude of cultures in the world, how can we know which one is our favorite? Traveling allows our souls to connect with the diversity of the world. Our wandering spirit chooses a place that satisfies it once it comes in contact with a new culture, and that becomes it's home for the moment. Then we travel once again and our wandering spirit is able to find a new location to rest it's love in.
The world currently upholds a population of 7.31 billion people. That means that for every person in Cortland there are over a million people to represent them on a global scale. The people in this small town only offer a narrow perspective of the individuals across the world. There must be thousands of people who we would become best friends with if we had the opportunity to meet them; however, we are confined to the people we come in contact with in our short lifespan on Earth. Within this town, we become distraught because we feel as if no one is able to relate and empathize with the situations we endure. We are naive to the fact that with the billions of people on Earth, there must be others who feel the exact same way, we just have not come in contact with them yet.
It is improbable that one will have the opportunity to visit every country and meet every individual that resides in the world. However, with the eighty, ninety, or one hundred or so years that we are allotted to complete our life, it is crucial that we travel and experience all that we are able to. We must allow our wandering spirit to quench it's desire to discover more, to experience more. These new experiences will allow our perspectives to shift off our small, minuscule town on the lake and onto the boundless entities of the world.
First let me begin with, I live this post. Having lived in this city my entire life, the concept of "small town blues" seems to be a constant epidemic that has plagued our lives. There are kids in our school or communities who will talk about this town as if it is the only living area on earth. And perhaps they will never leave. But for those of us about to embark on new adventures (College, a job, life, etc.) this town seems to be almost nothing more than a starting line that we are about to break through. For instance, I know that both you and I have been to New York. And while there are some miniscule similarites between the two towns, i'm sure we can both agree that this world is alot bigger then we can ever imagine. It's refreshing to read that there is so much more out there, so many oppurtunites just waiting for us to find. It almost contains enough hope to cure us of our blues and inspire us to go out and change the world.
ReplyDeleteFirst let me begin with, I live this post. Having lived in this city my entire life, the concept of "small town blues" seems to be a constant epidemic that has plagued our lives. There are kids in our school or communities who will talk about this town as if it is the only living area on earth. And perhaps they will never leave. But for those of us about to embark on new adventures (College, a job, life, etc.) this town seems to be almost nothing more than a starting line that we are about to break through. For instance, I know that both you and I have been to New York. And while there are some miniscule similarites between the two towns, i'm sure we can both agree that this world is alot bigger then we can ever imagine. It's refreshing to read that there is so much more out there, so many oppurtunites just waiting for us to find. It almost contains enough hope to cure us of our blues and inspire us to go out and change the world.
ReplyDeleteFirst let me begin with, I live this post. Having lived in this city my entire life, the concept of "small town blues" seems to be a constant epidemic that has plagued our lives. There are kids in our school or communities who will talk about this town as if it is the only living area on earth. And perhaps they will never leave. But for those of us about to embark on new adventures (College, a job, life, etc.) this town seems to be almost nothing more than a starting line that we are about to break through. For instance, I know that both you and I have been to New York. And while there are some miniscule similarites between the two towns, i'm sure we can both agree that this world is alot bigger then we can ever imagine. It's refreshing to read that there is so much more out there, so many oppurtunites just waiting for us to find. It almost contains enough hope to cure us of our blues and inspire us to go out and change the world.
ReplyDeleteFirst let me begin with, I live this post. Having lived in this city my entire life, the concept of "small town blues" seems to be a constant epidemic that has plagued our lives. There are kids in our school or communities who will talk about this town as if it is the only living area on earth. And perhaps they will never leave. But for those of us about to embark on new adventures (College, a job, life, etc.) this town seems to be almost nothing more than a starting line that we are about to break through. For instance, I know that both you and I have been to New York. And while there are some miniscule similarites between the two towns, i'm sure we can both agree that this world is alot bigger then we can ever imagine. It's refreshing to read that there is so much more out there, so many oppurtunites just waiting for us to find. It almost contains enough hope to cure us of our blues and inspire us to go out and change the world.
ReplyDelete