Comment #34

2004-08-18T14:00:39Z

Okay, I've given up the idea of finding any time soon to put together a coherent, reasoned response. Until then, I will throw out a few random comments.

(1) As I said before, the people described in the article are like no one I know. I admit that my knowledge is pretty much limited to Florida, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York (upstate), Connecticut, and Massachusetts, which leaves out any state that doesn't touch the Atlantic Ocean. This is a big country, and a bigger world. But it's hard to comment on the article when I feel that the author might as well be describing Mars.

(2) I'll also confess that I find myself resenting the author's tone, which makes it hard to view objectively what he writes. I hate stereotyping, and have found that getting to know people shatters whatever shallow impressions I've had of them.

(3) I did not get the impression from the articles that people are trying to avoid community, but are rather looking for affordable places where they DON'T have a two-hour commute to job, church, etc.

(4) My impression is that no one WANTS to go to church far away from home, but has what he thinks important reasons for doing so. You live within walking distance of the church I think I would love to belong to if I were there, yet you choose to travel a long way to another church. We do the same here. It's far from ideal, but my point is that there are reasons that have nothing to do with lack of interest in community.

(5) I'm all for stability! You know very well how I feel about moving, especially if children are involved, or if it takes you further away from family. However, I do want to point out that there is also value in living in different places. One of my favorite quotes is, "He who knows only one culture, knows no culture." That goes as much for the cultural differences between Massachusetts and Nebraska as it does for those between the United States and Algeria. I'm the last person to deny what's lost in a move -- but I have to admit that I've gained from our moves, too. I don't know how to balance the need for stability with the need for a non-parochial view of life. Perhaps Academia's idea of the sabbatical is a good model: a solid home base from which you occasionally venture far afield for long enough to be more than a tourist.

(6) With regard to the "travel soccer" mentioned in the articles and a subject of a previous conversation: I said I'd ask our friends who participated in it what they thought. It turns out that they will be the first to tell you that no one in his right mind would do it! Unless, perhaps, you have more money and time than you know what to do with, and only one child. But sometimes you have to do it once to realize the costs.

(7) This is for your friends who expressed a desire for Patio Man's grill: Everyone I know who has succumbed to the desire for all those bells and whistles soon reverts to using only those features found on the basic, inexpensive grills anyway!

(8) Speaking from the other side of Hurricane Charley, I firmly assert that some form of gas grill is a VERY GOOD THING to have.

Comment #33

2004-08-03T14:40:47Z

Thanks. Good summary. Check out the link for this week's conversation: Christianity Today

Comment #32

2004-07-30T13:14:13Z

Thanks, Jon, for posting this. Naturally, I have thoughts about it, and hope some day soon to have time to think them -- and write them.

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