01-28-2012, 04:40 PM
I'm twiterpated for anyone who loves living where they've settled. It's hugely important to genuinely groove your life's spot. Mine was not Puna. Mostly, it was the race thing. I worked hard the five years I was there. Very aware going in there was potential for friction so I took it easy and tried to blend. But racism there is too deeply ingrained. People who blindly discriminate don't care about or for your efforts. So, after five years, I sold my stake and moved elsewhere. So many others have done the same. I've lived all over the planet - you'd be surprised, and Puna is a head shaker.
Now I live up on a little sagebrush step out on the desert in the Pacific NW. My newer home and 6+ acres here cost exactly the same as my home in Puna sold for. My new neighbors do not knock the teeth out of their family members, nor do they manufacture meth, nor chain their animals to property corners neglected till they die, nor rattle my windows with their stereos for days and nights and days and nights. Complete strangers do not yell at me to go home, nor ignor me in favor of locals at retail establishments. I have no rats, no frogs (at night there is only an occasional coyote way off in the distance) and I don't sleep with earplugs anymore. I bought a camper and spend a week or so at a time out exploring the Owyhee Desert. I raft the Snake thru Hell's Canyon and do the Salmon and Grande Ronde and Clearwater rivers in my driftboat, and I ask myself, "what the hell was I thinking?".
I read a piece the other day in the news comparing the relationship between lower IQs and racism, and I laughed out loud. Puna.
Now I live up on a little sagebrush step out on the desert in the Pacific NW. My newer home and 6+ acres here cost exactly the same as my home in Puna sold for. My new neighbors do not knock the teeth out of their family members, nor do they manufacture meth, nor chain their animals to property corners neglected till they die, nor rattle my windows with their stereos for days and nights and days and nights. Complete strangers do not yell at me to go home, nor ignor me in favor of locals at retail establishments. I have no rats, no frogs (at night there is only an occasional coyote way off in the distance) and I don't sleep with earplugs anymore. I bought a camper and spend a week or so at a time out exploring the Owyhee Desert. I raft the Snake thru Hell's Canyon and do the Salmon and Grande Ronde and Clearwater rivers in my driftboat, and I ask myself, "what the hell was I thinking?".
I read a piece the other day in the news comparing the relationship between lower IQs and racism, and I laughed out loud. Puna.