Slow Down

December 4, 2018

Friends Bob and Bri recently relocated back to Sinclairville after a work-related four-year stint in Texas. Linda and Bri went Christmas shopping together today, and already being in town, I joined them for lunch. Part of our conversation centered around the population growth in the Lubbock, TX area. In the four years they were there, three or four new schools had to be built. In the school at which Bri taught, she estimated 800 kids in just a single grade, and one particular street that had just a few scattered businesses when they arrived, four years later was lined with them.

It’s hard for people who live in Western New York to imagine the growth and prosperity other parts of the country are experiencing. Chautauqua County has lost population annually for the past thirty-plus years. Our youth move away for a single reason: jobs. Our governor claims it’s our weather, but the weather hasn’t changed appreciably from the time when people flooded into our area around the turn of the last century. It’s taxes, pure and simple. Any businessman or woman will testify to that fact. And the fact that NYC makes the rules for the rest of the state. With a Democratic governor, Assembly, and Senate, rule by bureaucracy is only going to increase. 

Then there’s those of us who stay. There are many reasons; for us, it’s primarily family. And the fact that I prefer the slower pace. We certainly don’t have to put up with traffic jams here, unless you consider creeping along behind an Amish buggy a nuisance. In more seasonable weather, I like riding the back roads on my sidecar motorcycle at a leisurely 45 mph, and when the wind is whipping snow across the road in whiteout conditions, we just stop and wait it out. While I do wish there were more opportunities around here for our young adults, generally speaking, I like where we live. The air is clean, we don’t have earthquakes or mudslides; hurricanes don’t blow us away, and the flooding we occasionally experience is usually relatively small and localized. Tornados don’t cut devastating swaths through the area, and wildfires are unknown. What’s there not to like, except the continually overcast skies and the occasional roof collapse that are usually avoidable through judicious snow removal.

I am thankful that the roads were clear, the traffic light, and our home is warm. We are blessed.