Homesick

Congress should propose and pass a law immediately that would require every citizen to spend at least three days living somewhere other than their current hometown.
I don’t say this lightly.
The first benefit of such a statute would be a cross-pollination that would occur when people from one town are exposed to the culture and customs of another town.
For example, a Los Angeles resident could learn that recklessly zig-zagging from lane to lane at 90 miles per hour near an interstate exit is not the norm everywhere.
Small town citizens would learn that their Town Council’s vitriolic battle over whether the town park’s flowers should be yellow or red is not such a big deal.
But mostly, it would reinforce the special characteristics that made you choose your hometown in the first place.
During my own recent four-day vacation, I visited Arizona, California, and Mexico.
About as disparate a geographical triumvirate as you could find.
Here’s what I learned:
Dorothy was right.
There’s no place like home.
Sometimes I get caught up in the politics and minutiae that is inherent in suburban living.
A quick trip to California is the cure for whatever ails you, whether it be an exposure to maniacal highway driving or the ecological phenomenon of smog.
While the visit to the Pacific Ocean was awe-inspiring, the barefoot guy standing knee-deep in a tide pool playing a guitar with seaweed sprigs for a pick and singing songs aimed at the shores of Japan made me long for the more mundane insanity of our own town bum who keeps everyone guessing as to what color parka he will wear today.
(Just a reminder…I live in the Nevada desert.)
I became homesick for the 30-second delay at Interstate exit 122 that causes so much rage in our town after sitting at a dead stop for 20 minutes on a 12-lane California highway.
And a trip across the border into Mexico is the antidote for whatever complaint you could possibly have about the place you call home, because I promise that your town is Oz compared to the desperate, dispirited towns that dot the south side of the Mexican-American line.
It should be mandatory that every citizen must spend time away from home.
The experience will fill you with love for every wart and blemish that distinguishes your zip code from every other dark circle on Rand McNally’s best seller.