When I first moved "up north" as folks back home in Alabama called it, I wondered why on earth North Carolinians complained about Yankees so much. The war was a very long time ago. (150 years, to be exact.) Then after five years of living here, I attended Wake Tech (a local community college) and learned the saying that there's two types of Yankees: a Yank, and a Yankee (with an expletive in front of it). And I sadly must admit, within 8 years of living here, I too had learned the difference.
Having lived in different places, including one overseas stint that involved learning a whole new culture, I understand what it's like to long for something familiar, to feel out of place, and to be totally baffled by everyone around you. It's not a pleasant feeling. I've always tried to gently rebuke those who have never ever had the privilege of living somewhere else and are totally ignorant of what that's like when they criticize others for being totally "normal".
So I was more than a bit surprised today to find myself biting my tongue in Target while waiting in line at the register behind a girl from Massachusetts and the cashier who was from New York. After 24 hours of reading comments from all my Yankee friends on Facebook, making fun of southerners and our "snow phobias", it was a bit much to listen to the two go on and on about how "it'd have to be knee deep at least before they'd even consider dismissing school for snow" (while customers are looking for anything that resembles a boot in the store and not being successful at all; and snow shovels? Who on earth sells those? What do they look like?)
For the first time ever, I found myself wanting to say/ask "Then why did you move here? Why don't you go home? No one is making you stay." I understand. It's so foreign from what they knew. It's a different way of life, a different way of thinking, a different climate that presents different challenges. I get that. I really and truly do. I also understand the frustrations, the emotions, and that stark realization that just when they thought they were meshing quite well, suddenly they realize they aren't. It's unsettling. But at times like this, when everyone around me is all excited, I get a little sick and tired of hearing the arrogant recitations of how much better and superior their lives were back home.
So now I'm at home, in my warm house, reading reports from AL, TN, and MS of snow, skipping Facebook posts from the complaining Yanks, and knowing that when they show the news tomorrow with wrecked cars on the roads, at least half of the wrecked drivers will have northern accents. You know, the ones who know how to drive in the snow.
Having lived in different places, including one overseas stint that involved learning a whole new culture, I understand what it's like to long for something familiar, to feel out of place, and to be totally baffled by everyone around you. It's not a pleasant feeling. I've always tried to gently rebuke those who have never ever had the privilege of living somewhere else and are totally ignorant of what that's like when they criticize others for being totally "normal".
So I was more than a bit surprised today to find myself biting my tongue in Target while waiting in line at the register behind a girl from Massachusetts and the cashier who was from New York. After 24 hours of reading comments from all my Yankee friends on Facebook, making fun of southerners and our "snow phobias", it was a bit much to listen to the two go on and on about how "it'd have to be knee deep at least before they'd even consider dismissing school for snow" (while customers are looking for anything that resembles a boot in the store and not being successful at all; and snow shovels? Who on earth sells those? What do they look like?)
For the first time ever, I found myself wanting to say/ask "Then why did you move here? Why don't you go home? No one is making you stay." I understand. It's so foreign from what they knew. It's a different way of life, a different way of thinking, a different climate that presents different challenges. I get that. I really and truly do. I also understand the frustrations, the emotions, and that stark realization that just when they thought they were meshing quite well, suddenly they realize they aren't. It's unsettling. But at times like this, when everyone around me is all excited, I get a little sick and tired of hearing the arrogant recitations of how much better and superior their lives were back home.
So now I'm at home, in my warm house, reading reports from AL, TN, and MS of snow, skipping Facebook posts from the complaining Yanks, and knowing that when they show the news tomorrow with wrecked cars on the roads, at least half of the wrecked drivers will have northern accents. You know, the ones who know how to drive in the snow.
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