Q & A

Q: Do you ever think about leaving South Carolina?

A: Been there. Done that.

I get this question often as people wonder why I don't leave this state for greener pastures. I probably would leave if I didn't know any better. But I know better.

I lived for five years in Orlando, Florida, and I didn't hate it or anything. But it was never home to me. It always felt odd to me, and people thought I was odd because of my accent. When I would go back to SC for visits, it always felt like relief. I would cross the border, and I could just feel it. When I came back to SC, I stopped at a store to get gas, and the girl behind the counter thanked me in the accent I know so well. It hit me at that moment that I was home.

I love South Carolina. This will sound odd to those who don't live here and consider this place to be a joke. I probably wouldn't feel this way if I had been an Army brat and lived in various locations. But I was born here and spent the majority of my life here. But I had to live somewhere else to really appreciate this place.

There are two viewpoints on this. Some people believe you have to live somewhere else or move around to fully experience life and avail yourself of opportunities. These are the nomads. The flip side are those who know it doesn't matter where you go. The world is not that big of a place, and you will do well wherever you are. These would be the settlers. I used to be a nomad, but I am a settler now. The nomad phase was short lived for me.

I understand the nomad mindset. Moving to another place offers new opportunities and new experiences. It also allows you to escape the past. It is like having a fresh slate. But as someone told me once. "Wherever you go, there you are." The implication of that statement is that you can't run away from yourself. If you're an asshole in one place, going to another place is not going to change that.

There are benefits and drawbacks to living in various places. I could compare Orlando to New York and note similarities and differences. But there is only one place that is home. Home beats just about any other place there is because that aspect can't be duplicated.

I think of two people in relation to this issue. The first is Warren Buffett who chose to return home to Omaha, Nebraska. The second is Bill Gates who chose to locate home in Seattle, Washington, with Microsoft. These are the richest men in America, yet they chose to be settlers instead of nomads. I am not anything like these men in terms of wealth, but I note that they did not consider home to be any sort of liability in doing what they wanted to do. And there is no way you can tell me that they considered their home states to be strong assets for them. For Buffett, the obvious place he should have gone to was New York City. For Gates, it was Silicon Valley.

The conclusion that I have drawn is that staying put is not a drawback. I can't think of how my life is any worse here than it was when I was in Orlando. I spent a month in Phoenix, and I really couldn't tell the difference from Orlando except in the weather and having to check my shoes for scorpions before putting them on. The real difference was outside of town in the desert and the rocks. It was different, but I did not find it nearly as wonderful as being in the Blue Ridge Mountains here in the East. Trees and water make a huge difference.

I will probably travel again at some point. I like to visit different places. But South Carolina is my home and always will be. I may relocate within the state, but I am never leaving it again. I belong here. There is no substitute for home.

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