It depends on what cultural connectedness you want. If you enjoy all those activities, that's great. But IMO that sort of activity doesn't necessarily make a person any better a citizen, any happier a person, or any more fulfilled and fulfilling as a parent.
I used to be in that sort of circle also when I lived in NYC. Worked on Wall Street, was politically active, knew many of the most influential people in the city, went to musems, openings, etc. But for me, at least, there was more political wisdom in an evening with Plutarch than an evening with, say, Bella Abzug, or Robert Wagner, or many others. For myself, I found it all to be a rat race the primary purpose of which was to make people think how important and connected they were.
I gave up a lot of things coming here, but none of them, I find, were things that contributed to my long term happiness or fulfillment as a person. Culturally, I find just as much satisfaction participating in our local theater group as I did attending Broadway performances. I find as much musical satisfaction performing locally as I did performing in Washington and New York. (Maybe if I had gotten to Carnegie Hall I would have felt differently, but I was never quite that good.) Granted, this is an unusual community that attracts an unusual group of people, but the lecturers and slide shows given at our library and community college branch can be just as good (and just as terrible) as those I used to attend in DC (I worked in Sandy Spring for three years and ran down into the city quite regularly for a while) and NYC.
I find more personal growth and fulfillment being a doer than an observer. I think, as just one example, that my life is just as fulfilled helping a friend work out the interpretation of Hamlet as I was watching a professional performance of it. I get more political insight and satisfaction participating actively in the development of a local tourism plan than in listening to lectures by or attending dinners with big names who realize they are always talking on the record, and so are careful what they do and don't say.
If your life is right for you, that's great. But when it comes to cultural connectedness, there are good and bad points in both our situations.
And I must say that with no McDonald's, KFC, Dominoes, etc. to distract, my children grew up in a family that ate a home cooked meal together around the dining room table every evening. We didn't eat and run -- we ate and talked. And talked. That's something I cherish. |
