It is what it is, and there’s no denying it.
I cannot count how many times people in my hometown profess their hatred for the place that they spent the majority of their young lives. This is especially true for small towns. I hear, “this town sucks” or “it’s so boring” and “everyone is so trashy.” And to be honest, I’m just as guilty of doing this as anyone else, but enough is enough.
If you’re one of those people who think you’re too good for your hometown I have a few words for you. If you think you’re too good for the place that employs your parents, might be sending you to college, kept you safe, healthy, and educated you, then leave. Leave your hometown and don’t come back if all you do is bash it.
I get it, I do. Going home can be boring, but it’s also the place your mom tucked you into bed, and where you played in your front yard. The nightlife might be dead, and it may not be a hotbed for progressive thinkers but guess what, you weren’t a progressive thinker until you went to college. It kills me to see people who deny where they came from, and deny the place that helped raise them and is a part of their identity.
My high school had a ceiling that constantly leaked, and I worked at my local mall for 2 years after school to make money. I know the manager of Auntie Anne’s pretzels; and my favorite restaurants all know my order by heart. Am I ashamed of that? Hell no. Why would I be? I didn’t have the power to change it, and at the time, all you can do is accept it. Why would I leave and then act like I’m too good for the people who were kind to me while I grew up? I go to college with girls who act like they’re better than everyone else because they’re from New York or Chicago, but we both go to IU in Bloomington, Indiana, so does that still make you better than me? The fact that we sit next to each other in class and get the same grades and go to the same parties makes us alike, so just because you live somewhere ~posh~ does not mean you’re better than someone else.
Where I’m from people are embarrassed to say that they were raised there (good old Terre Haute, Indiana). During recruitment I heard people say the place they were born instead of where they were raised so they looked better. In what world does that make sense? Lying about where your from is disrespectful to your friends who still live there, your parents who make a living there and are proud to live there and choose to live there, and all the people who you know who like it there.
Acting like your too good for your own hometown is denying an undeniable truth. Saying your too good for somewhere where you spent 18+ years isn’t “rising above it” or “moving on,” it’s being stuck up. So, to everyone who is ashamed of his or her hometown or think it’s a dump, get over yourself. Put on your big girl pants and grow up.
