Published: July 10, 2008 10:09 pm            

Champer 0711: Glancing over the shoulder at choices

One of the imponderables that for years has sometimes occupied my waking hours on those days that seem to drag has been the question of how one chooses where to spend one’s life.

It’s certainly not the most critical of issues in this great realm of human endeavor. Far more important, I imagine most would agree, is the question of how one spends it.

I suspect I never would have dwelled on the matter had it not been for the fact that early in life I took up the hobby of genealogy and spent spare time ever since, as one friend put it, “digging up old bones.”

If you’re researching a family from the present back to the time of its arrival in this country, you come face to face with migration patterns uniquely part of the settlement of America.

The vastness of this land and that horizon embracing the setting sun combined to offer settlers the promise of a better life, so they pushed over the next hill and across the next valley — over and over again.

At least, many of them did.

Many others chose not to move at all. They ended their days farming the same land their grandfather bought when he got here, or maybe they took over the business that had already been in the family for two generations.

To be sure, there were practical reasons in the equation. Good old common sense was at the foundation of a society built by “those who go” and “those who stay.”

All those valleys to the west may have been golden opportunities for many who needed a break, but a step backwards for many others who were doing quite well where they were.

Enter my imponderable. Beyond the practical considerations, is there something intangible that weighs in and helps influence people when confronted with the necessity of making this decision?

For example, is wanderlust universally more prevalent among those who go and “homebodyness” among those who stay? I feel certain these play a role, but “universally” is another matter. I doubt it, but ....

Why even try to figure it out?

Well, I think I’ve come to a point in life where it’s not uncommon for people to look over their shoulders, think about the decisions they’ve made, and wonder what might have been.

If just one of those decisions had been made differently, where would I be today?

I’m one of “those who stay.” I live today almost within a stone’s throw of where I was born and during all those years have been away for an appreciable time only when I was in college.

There are five generations of my family in the city cemetery.

I’ve been here through the good times and not so good. I was here when the sidewalks were crowded, all storefronts occupied, and workers poured out of the workplace when the whistle blew.

I was here when the economy went into a downturn, when we struggled to pull ourselves back up, and diversified into something with an all-new look.

I could have moved on, once or twice upon a time.

But I’ve been to California and Florida and New York and Arizona. I’ve seen the desert and the seashore and the skyscrapers and the pine forests.

And I’ve never found a place I like better than right here.

Perhaps when it comes time for me to get better acquainted with my ancestors, someone could arrange to have this epitaph carved in the marker: “He always swore he’d never budge. Now, there’s no question about it.”

STAN CHAMPER can be reached at schamper@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2640.

        

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