My major issue for friendship seems to be location. The heat and humidity of the Southeast [to say nothing of the pollen and pollution] makes me literally sick if I spend too much time outside, unless it's cold out. We have maybe two or three months in which I can enjoy time outside, and if it was up to me, I'd go outdoors just about every day of the year. I even like being out in the rain, with a wide brimmed hat and rain jacket, of course. Even when I do socialize, I have nothing in common with almost anyone. I don't like much of any music or TV shows from the past 10 years. I don't like video games. I am not active on any social media [too damned much negativity and self-absorbed behaviour].
Most people under 40 in the Southeast do not seem to like any of the topics which actually interest me, they end up interacting with their phone more than they do with me, even when visiting my house. Most locals of all ages are somewhere between conservative and white nationalist [I've lived here for 15 years, this is not a generalization, it is a fact], not to mention the fact that most people my age have kids and/or a wife and precious little free time. I feel uncomfortable around people who hate immigrants, I'm a third generation on both of my grandfather's side, and I'm creole [mixed-race]. I once had someone go off on me when I told him that I was learning French ["WHY DO Y'ALL YOUNG PEOPLE NEED TO LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE!!"]. I've tried to meet more people of color, but in this part of the south, people self-segregate, and everyone assumes I'm white. It's simply hard to meet non-white people around here, and as I've said before, most people I meet are off-put by my personality and the way I dress and present myself. Many of these issues were a problem for me in my hometown of New Orleans also.
As for who I 'vent' to.... I usually just don't, at all. This does lead to fits of verbal anger every few months, yet thankfully doesn't seem to impact my blood pressure [yet]. When people want to know my life story, or why I seem 'off' on a particular day, it obviously overwhelms them. So I keep that inside, even to the two friends I've known for 20 years or more. I have one semi-local friend who lives almost an hour from me, but he suffers from MS and is even more of a recluse than I am, and this is all pre-COVID. I want to laugh at the people freaking out about the six to eight months of quarantine.... I've been living like this for over 35 years. Most of the time I'm around other people, I feel more lonely than when I'm by myself. Before COVID, I would indeed still try to make friends. I am an extrovert. On the rare occasions I can afford to go to a pub, or a concert, or get invited to a party; I talk to anyone who will talk to me. I just don't seem to meet anyone who has the time to want to peruse a friendship, due to a lack on interest, or Jah knows what else. However, when I visited Portland, Oregon... virtually everyone I met wanted to be my friend or talk for as long as we were going in the same direction on busses and trains. Honestly, most of them thought I was a local. I have PTSD from multiple arrests, police targeting, and twice being committed [and released upon meeting the psychiatrist]. I try not to let it bother me, but when people start spouting how it's a shame the South lost the Civil War, or how immigrants should be rounded up, or how much better white people are than everyone else... those are definite triggers. And when people like that do like me, I just can't feel safe around them. I've wanted to move out of the South for over 25 years, but it simply isn't affordable.
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-- Hank
o-(|8[#]
“Politics is the art of controlling your environment.”
― Dr. Hunter S. Thompson