My mother-in-law told me my siblings were leaving AZ. I got the info second hand from my wife, so it was devoid of the tonal qualities that would tell me if the information was a taunt or a moment of sadness. For me it is a moment of sadness, but not just because family is leaving. For the first time I found myself defending AZ as a legitimate place to live.
I’ll get the bad stuff out of the way first, AZ is a political cesspool. We are two governors removed from any major drama, though the current gov is doing her best to resemble Michelle Bachman. In truth, we are a state of very frightened Bachman Republicans who want to rid the country (and perhaps the world) of Mexicans (who many of us believe to be a race in of their own) and anything that resembles a union. This is odd, given that so many Arizonans hail from strong union states like Iowa and New York. Of course, they might have left because of the unions, or the weather, or the pace, or whatever.
As a result of the state exodus, AZ is a pace somewhere between NY and Iowa. We have unions, but they aren’t really appreciated. We have a class of people that feel deeply entitled and are, occasionally, jerks. However, when you ask them about entitlements, they’ll claim they are part of the 53% of the country that doesn’t get handouts. I guess they forgot about medicare.
So, that was the bad stuff. The good stuff is weather, weather, weather, opportunity. I feel like AZ is a place of growth where people are flocking to find new beginnings and bringing all of that energy with them. I feel Iowa is a place of death, where the population is constantly declining and people are not striving to be more, but instead are content with being. This is not who I am, so when I hear my family is going back, I get sad. I feel like it is an attack on AZ. I cannot accept that AZ is a place people want to leave. If I do, I have to accept that there may be somewhere else I should be.
Some Thoughts:
- Had a chance to see film of Terell Suggs standing on the sideline. He’s hungry. This is a man that lives and breathes and believes football. The Ravens Defense is a calling for him; it is not a job. For him to be there patrolling the sidelines tells me he is anxious to be back at his calling alongside his preacher, Ray Lewis.