Everyone has said this at some point, and it doesn’t take a long time before you will hear it or something like it again, “I hate Michigan, and I can’t wait to get out of here.” The question I have is why? What is it that you have heard about the other 49 states that makes you feel like we were all shafted in the 'Place of Origin' lottery? I have never heard about these other mystical states that have perfect weather year round, guaranteed to be 70-75 degrees and sunny for the rest of your life with 0% humidity. No one has ever told me about a place where you grow up having more fun then you can handle, because these places only exist in your mind.
All of my life I have listened to my peers talk about their distaste for Michigan and how much better life would be somewhere else. Like where? Gary, Indiana? Anyone who has ever driven through the nearby home of Michael Jackson has already seen how much worse it could be. If you ever happen to be passing through, the stench of Gary will welcome you long before its signs do.
For one thing, I think that complaining about their current situation, even if unwarranted, makes people feel better. Or at least they think it makes them feel better. Talking about how great everything must be somewhere else comforts their discontent for having an average life. Now, I do not disagree that in most peoples’ situations life can get better; there is almost always room for improvement, but living an average life isn’t all that bad. I wonder though if a change of attitude rather than latitude might help tremendously.
I can come up with countless reasons why you should be proud to live in the “Great Lake State.” The reason for that nickname would be one of them. Michigan is saturated with lakes. There are few things in life that bring a sense of peace the way water does. Just being able to see water from wherever you are gives you a feeling of calm, and being in or on that water is one of the best ways to pass time that I can think of. You really shouldn’t be too upset about never being more than 6 miles away from an inland lake, which is the case on every square foot of Michigan soil. I think that it could be much worse than that.
Being cradled by the Great Lakes themselves shouldn’t be ignored either. There is a place at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park where you can stand on a beach 450 feet directly above Lake Michigan. The beach descends to the lake from where you are at about a 45 degree angle. The lake was completely reflective and the sky was a perfect blue when I was there. From the top, it looked like I was staring out over the edge of the world.
Besides being covered in fresh water, the change of seasons in this state gives you an ever changing landscape. Michigan’s fall season has enough eye candy to give you a retinal cavity. Around the middle of September, Michigan’s foliage explodes to reveal a display of color almost unrivaled in nature. Driving down a quiet road in late September on a perfectly beautiful day under a firework-like display of orange, yellow and red leaves will heal your soul.
The most hated thing about Michigan has to be its winters. I will not try to sugarcoat them: they are long and can be brutal. Now that said, there are some positives even related to those chilly months. Michigan offers some great skiing (or snowboarding) for one thing. It you like to ski it is one of the best ways to get outside and battle the drag of winter. If you don’t like skiing so much, you can still go up north with your friends that do and enjoy hot tubs and warm fires with them when they come back in from the cold. I’ll take some drinks with friends in a cabin up north with a fireplace over any bar I have been to. And if you cannot appreciate the brilliance of an entire state painted white with a fresh snow than I say you are too hard to please.
Now, having said all of the above there is still one more area to cover – what about not having enough stuff to do? Granted, there is probably more to do in a big city like New York than anywhere in Michigan, but that may be subjective. Can you get to a lake in less than 10 minutes? Can you go for a drive down a quiet street with your loved one? It hasn’t been my experience while driving in New York that it is easy to drive anywhere, something that I would say is taken way too much for granted. Can you have a field party at a moments notice when you are in high school? Can you ever build tree forts as a young kid, or play in “the woods” at all for that matter?
To a large extent where you live is what you make of it. There are people all over the country right now talking about how much better someone else must have it and how unfortunate they are to be stuck wherever they are, trust me. If none of this has made you appreciate how good we have it here and how much we have to be grateful for, imagine someone from Iraq complaining about having to grow up in Michigan – I thought so.
No comments:
Post a Comment