Hmm, the first couple of paragraphs remind me of why I dislike collectivist forms of social organization. I mean, I think it is great when one can /choose/ to be part of a community and share and work together with like-minded others, but when one is /forced/ to do these things by the majority, then everyone resents it and everything is pulled down to the lowest common denominator.

I think that leaving my home-culture was a key part of learning to love my home and the culture of the people who inhabit it. Had I stayed from the beginning, I would have accepted it grudgingly. But having left for a while, I discovered that I preferred to be where I had come from. And after returning, I now appreciate it more than I would had I never left. And even advocate for it, whereas before I would have probably just complained about it. Lol.

It seems odd to me, though, for your people to try to dissuade you from doing better for yourself when you were young. When we were young, we were encouraged to go out and make something better of ourselves and find our own path through life (I think this may also be why the population of Appalachia is shrinking rather than growing too, lol). Do you think that this is a cultural difference between your people and mine, or what do you think about that? Or do you think it was just something unique to our particular individual upbringings?