| graciegirl |
02-22-2015 08:08 AM |
There are many people who live here, maybe just moved here, maybe for twenty years, who love almost everything about The Villages. They like the lifestyle, they like living with their peers, (grown up and pretty savvy people and people who have planned for retirement) they like the way this place is run, they like the price, they like the climate and the opportunity to do a lot of things and interact with a lot of people who become social or REAL friends if they "click".
They identify with this place and it becomes their home. It is comfortable to them, and when they leave for awhile, they look forward to coming back. It works for them. They have enough people skills, enough money, enough wisdom to make a new start in a place quite a bit different from where they grew up.
This place is growing faster than any place any of you have ever lived before and it is NOT run like any place you have lived before. It is not a typical government, and for many they find it surprisingly better, but some folks want to tweek and change what I find is almost perfection. Maybe it would be better to have elected officials like back home, but maybe it wouldn't.
In January, February and March of every year that I have been here we have a lot of conflict on this forum, a lot of criticism, a lot of nastiness as people will make statements and others dispute them or correct them.
There are a lot of people during this time of year who make statements about The Villages, it's people, the processes, the ways things are done that are incorrect. Those of us who have lived here for awhile try to quell rumors and provide correct information. We have a vested interest in this place, financially and emotionally. We still have folks who we love and want to join us here who are reading this forum. We are proud villagers and it just plain annoys the heck out of us to hear someone spout off things that aren't true, aren't typical, and only sometimes happen.
I have had people say that I work for the developer. I went to a party once and met a new person who told me that the developer bought my house for me. WHICH MADE THIS OLD LADY WHO IS MARRIED TO AN OLD MAN WHO HAS WORKED HARD for things all of their lives very mad and hurt.
Some of us aren't trying to be mean. We are trying to just set things straight. In my case it may be an obsession, but no one pays me for it.
Some of us have received some really nasty PMs. I will still stand up for my home town, I will still fight age bias and I will still annoy some of you, but not on purpose.
It IS mostly just this time of year, a lot of people who are skeptical, like I was when I first came here, and they are thinking...alright...what's the catch? The catch is that there isn't any.
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