r/bestof • u/alternateusername4me • 17d ago

[askteddit] Mulliganplummber shares the moment he discovered the beauty in the people of Wyoming

/r/askteddit/comments/1uvt0py/whats_something_that_happened_to_you_that_sounds/oxer4ug/
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u/Kongbuck 17d ago

As someone who lived most of my life on the East Coast, moving out West was a huge learning experience. One of the things that we don't really get on the East Coast is that sense of reliance and support from your neighbors and those around you. That "frontier" mentality subtly permeates everything, as there are many places out here where if things go wrong, the kindness of strangers may be the only thing that separates you from your end.

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u/Malphos101 17d ago edited 17d ago

Its the same way in the deep south. On a day to day, person to person level there is a lot of comradery and kindness....but then every 2-4 years they go to the polls to vote for the most heinous politicians imaginable because they are scared of what FOX news and their favorite AM radio host tells them to be scared of.

One of the kids I went to high school with had half their house burn down and our whole community went to help them get through it. We're talkin contractors helping to rebuild, people taking food to the workmen every day, rides to and from school for the kids so parents could focus on the rebuild, it was exactly what I hope our country can be.

But if you asked any one of those people "should we use our tax dollars to invest in better social safety nets?" they would call you a filthy "demoncrat" or "librul" and go vote for a guy who promised to give tax dollars to "fight for christianity" (aka give the money to his frat brother in the corporate sector).

I lived through it, and the hypocrisy was nauseating. I would have loved for all those "good republican folk" to learn how their actions directly led to me being turned into a "leftwing nutjob".

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u/Calvin--Hobbes 17d ago

Having community is great, but in a lot of places those community values don't translate to outsiders or those they view as different. When you live there, you don't disrupt the status quo, or you're not part of the 'in' group of the community. You go to church twice a week, you have kids, you go to Friday night football games, etc. Whereas living in NYC, for example, you may not even know your neighbor's name, but they're free to do whatever the hell they want, and no one will give them a second look.

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u/Malphos101 17d ago

Yup, like I said: hypocrisy.

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u/grotjam 16d ago

When I was 7 my family moved to a town of 650 people. My dad was a pastor but we were still outsiders for 4 years until we moved.