Re:Suicides in Rural America Increased More Than 40% in 16 Y...
by taivare on Sunday March 19, 2017 @06:13PM
(#13909979)
I know people whom moved from my rust belt home town and after the crash in 08' lost job(s). The one person was living in Florida for years before the crash. They were basically strong armed by social services into returning to their home states if they wanted to keep receiving assistance. I imagine they felt family ties would help ease the burden, if said person were back home near family however, in this case his only sister wasn't able to provide much beyond emotional support. I remember reading of similar cases in Hawaii after the crash, in those cases people were given flight vouchers for a resettlement to their home states.
I don't have to imagine it. There are 8 cities between my great-grandfather and me.
- Russia (we don't know what city), where my great-grandfather was born.
- St. Louis, where my great-grandfather settled as a refugee from the pogroms (he was Jewish).
- Chicago, where my great-grandfather relocated for work and my grandfather did undergrad->PhD.
- Seattle, where my grandfather moved after graduation and met my grandmother from Ottawa.
- Lawrence, KS., where my grandfather got his faculty job and where my parents met.
- Rochester, NY. where my parents moved after college.
- Milwaukee, WI. because the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle was written during the evenings and delivered in the afternoon, while the Milwaukee Journal was written during the business day and delivered the following morning. My dad was a journalist and my mom was a teacher (they have both changed careers now) and they wanted to have dinner together.
- Chicago again, where I went to college.
- Berkeley, CA. where I now live for my software engineering job in San Francisco.
My family is privileged in many ways (white skin, tradition of going to college, supportive households, etc). But no one in my family's history has had the incredible privilege of being born in a place that remains suitable for an entire lifetime, much less multiple generations of lifetimes. I cannot even comprehend what it would be like to be born in a place I could stay in forever while having a decent career. That must be nice if you can get it.
In terms of public policy, I'd consider that kind of luxury to be on par with owning a vacation home. Yeah, it'd be nice if everyone could have that, but there are much more pressing problems to solve.