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Originally Posted by Norma J
Also, everyone should seperate from their highschool "friends" once school departs so that you can grow on your own and meet new people who are more at one with you - more choose the people you spend your time with. Because I hear stories about some of these people, what they've been up to and are doing in life now, and they're doing nothing creative or anything different than when they were in school - all living in the same area they grew up in - which makes me quite sad if I dwell on it.
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This is a very common response, but I still am unable to make sense of it. First, there is the assumption that once you're out of high school you'll have more of a chance of meeting people who are similar to you. It's not necessarily true, because it's all based on luck. I mean, the same people who are going to these colleges are the ones who attended the high schools in the surrounding area, usually. College doesn't automatically change people for the better. Also, I can't just expect to soon meet people who are more like me. In college, I can tell that a lot of my interests still put people off in the same way they did in high school. And I don't even make a big deal out of it all--it's something that people just find out eventually, by asking questions and such.
And then you talk about the people who choose to keep living in the same area they grew up in--what of it? It's not hurting you, and it's their own personal choice anyway. Once I moved back to my hometown, after a completely disastrous semester in Chicago, a lot of people I know--including certain friends and family members--began to look down on me for something that I felt wasn't so much of a choice as a necessity. I still have to take crap about it from people who don't even understand the whole ordeal, simply because they want to believe I chickened out in some way. Who would want to live in a place where they don't feel welcome?