Quote:
Originally Posted by Quixote
We live here in TV fifteen years, the first few as snowflakes, and was here when Andrew Blechman's LEISUREVILLE hit the stands and caused quite a stir. I contacted Blechman through his publisher and took him to task for his focus on Captain Midnight (you can guess), STDs, and transsexual Wendy (who happened to be a friend—we played trivia on the same team). Not a word about fundraising for various situations and good causes, nothing about volunteering at the hospital in spectacular numbers, no mention of entire neighborhoods looking out for a neighbor in need.
It turned out that his beef was with seniors removing themselves from their jhome communities where they still had a viable and important role to 'isolate' themselves in senior communities, and The Villages was the best one to use as an example because of its size and popularity. I reminded him that that was a nice thought BUT ... the job of God was taken already, that he (Blechman) wasn't qualified for it anyway, and that seniors did not need his criticism for choosing a lifestyle that they felt was appropriate for them.
I notified him several years later when Wendy died. He offered condolences and said she was a 'classy lady.' Indeed she was!
Thanks for a cogent, thoughtful post. I've found that many (most?) people who come from west and south of New Jersey think only of 'that big place down there' when they hear 'New York' and are clueless that New York State has areas of stunning beauty, awesome natural attractions, unique cultural offerings, and so much more. When I describe sunsets from our (now former) backyard—'over the ridge across the fields'—at times the response is 'In New York? Not possible!'
But as the quoted points out, there's no convincing anyone, nor should there be. You're absolutely right—;That ain't gonna change.''
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"It turned out that his beef was with seniors removing themselves from their jhome communities where they still had a viable and important role to 'isolate' themselves in senior communities, and The Villages was the best one to use as an example because of its size and popularity."
Interesting! We encountered kind of the same mindset among some Minnesotans when we (and a whole lot of others) decided to abandon L'etoile du nord for the land of sun and sand. Near as I could make out it really had nothing to do with our "viable and important role" in our home communities, but really more about what we were taking with us. Of course there were/are various reasons for not moving, but in a nutshell the ones who COULD afford to move, often did, and that meant taking our money, toys, spending power and various accounts with us.
Minnesota has been hemorrhaging money for some years now as the more affluent seniors as well as younger folks still working but able to move, have been fleeing the state like deranged lemmings. The population numbers in Minnesota overall have remained pretty stable, but as the people with the money leave they're being replaced by folks who more often than not see a "career" as slurping at the public trough. A third-grader can do that kind of arithmetic.
Guilt trip about shirking our responsibilities? Read "tax base". THAT is the real reason.