This week our Netflix film was Up in the Air, a film starring George Clooney. The story revolves around a business executive who specializes in firing people and who spends nearly all his life jumping from one airport to the next, one city after another. The film really got me thinking about the idea of home, family, and community, something that has been on my mind a lot lately.
At first, I found myself derisively laughing that this character's lifestyle. I fly a moderate amount, usually three or four times year. I like to travel, but I hate flying. I hate the crowds, the lines, the delays, the stress, the cramped quarters, the semi-nausea. I hate the grumpy people, the loud complainers, the expensive airport food, and the endless shuttles and taxis. The George Clooney character seemed to embrace this lifestyle, however, at peace in hotels and in restaurants, hooking up with any attractive person crossing his path. This was a character with no "home" to speak of, with no family or community connections. He himself eventually becomes disenchanted with his lifestyle and tries to return to something more real.
I have come to realize that this seemingly strange lifestyle isn't so far away from my own life and the life of many other "professional" people I know. We also are "up in the air." We have chosen to leave our homes and the communities, communities that, in my case, were forged by the sweat of people who sacrificed everything they had to realize a prophetic vision of community. What would they think of me, up and leaving like I have? ... And all in search for personal success and fulfillment?
To make matters worse, I feel that I have not completely committed to staying where I now find myself, in the Ohio. True, I find myself identifying more with Ohio every day. Yet, in my office, in the middle of an overcast and dark Ohio winter, I can still be found looking at job postings, curious to see if there are greener pastures somewhere else, wondering if we would not be a better fit at another university or in another city. Seattle would be nice. And Boulder, Colorado -- gosh, I think, how I would love to live and teach in Boulder.
There is a part of me that hates this about myself. This meandering mind, this restless searching for some better place, seems to go completely against what I believe is important. People need to put down deep roots and commit themselves to living in and improving the local communities that surround them. Doing this, living a committed life beyond the call of personal success, enriches both the life of individual and the life of the community. And this act of commitment, I believe, should happen sooner rather than later.
Perhaps George Clooney and I are not so different, after all.
1 comment:
Bryan---I feel like you are reading my mind. Just yesterday I told Craig that I hate that deep inside I don't feel settled here. Even though it is a great job in a beautiful spot, I too find myself looking at job postings and thinking about other places. I know that I haven't committed to this place. Just this morning I pointed out a huge box that has been sitting in our basement. Craig pointed out that we should hang on to it in case we move and need it for packing. This "in case" seems to haunt us and keep us from enjoying our current spot and community as much as we should. My family is also one that is deeply rooted in a set area and yet for some reason I chose to give that up. Last week I welcomed a 60+ year old colleague back to campus after a summer visit to her family farms in Minnesota. She told me that every year when she goes back she feels nostalgic and begins to look for jobs or retirement possibilities there. I don't want to spend the next 30 years never settled and always thinking about other places. I don't want to be up in the air.
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