Small, Closed Minds
I never thought of myself as a city girl. Being a nature nut I figured I was best cut out for the smaller towns - lots of trees, birds etc.
Apparently not. After nearly 13 years in a town the size of less than 40,000 I find that I am fed up with small minds, closed minds and those who seem to have no mind at all. Of course you can find these people anywhere in the world but they tend to stand out in the smaller communities when you are not of a ... like mind.
Take the issue of smoking for example. Several nonprofits in Ohio have banned together to gather signatures and get an initiative on the ballot to make the state smoke free. Never mind the smoker's rights cries I'm sure everyone expected that. It is the ranting and raving claiming that there is no link between smoking (and second hand smoke) and several kinds of cancer and heart disease - funny there is a ton of research to the contrary.
Several claim that going smoke free as a state is just like stealing the property - not the rights of use mind you but the actual property - of the business owners. I think I see how they can think that way I just don't get the why but that's neither here nor there.
Some claim that there is a cure for cancer and that these nonprofits are sitting on it because after all they are in the pocket of the drug companies. Uh-huh.
Then there was today. When someone said that the American Cancer Society is in the business of saving lives - that the money raised goes to research, education and service as well as a small bit to advocacy (of which SmokeFree Ohio can be said to be a part) and all of a sudden that worthy organization - one of the top organizations according to the Better Business Bureau - is compared by these charming residents as being like the Taliban who, are as much about saving souls as the American Cancer Society is about saving lives.
That does it. If I ever thought before of getting the hell out of an in-bred, small minded town stuck in the past I am certain that now I need to. These people are beyond absurd.
Apparently not. After nearly 13 years in a town the size of less than 40,000 I find that I am fed up with small minds, closed minds and those who seem to have no mind at all. Of course you can find these people anywhere in the world but they tend to stand out in the smaller communities when you are not of a ... like mind.
Take the issue of smoking for example. Several nonprofits in Ohio have banned together to gather signatures and get an initiative on the ballot to make the state smoke free. Never mind the smoker's rights cries I'm sure everyone expected that. It is the ranting and raving claiming that there is no link between smoking (and second hand smoke) and several kinds of cancer and heart disease - funny there is a ton of research to the contrary.
Several claim that going smoke free as a state is just like stealing the property - not the rights of use mind you but the actual property - of the business owners. I think I see how they can think that way I just don't get the why but that's neither here nor there.
Some claim that there is a cure for cancer and that these nonprofits are sitting on it because after all they are in the pocket of the drug companies. Uh-huh.
Then there was today. When someone said that the American Cancer Society is in the business of saving lives - that the money raised goes to research, education and service as well as a small bit to advocacy (of which SmokeFree Ohio can be said to be a part) and all of a sudden that worthy organization - one of the top organizations according to the Better Business Bureau - is compared by these charming residents as being like the Taliban who, are as much about saving souls as the American Cancer Society is about saving lives.
That does it. If I ever thought before of getting the hell out of an in-bred, small minded town stuck in the past I am certain that now I need to. These people are beyond absurd.
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