Young People Should Move Away From Charlotte County
Imagine you’re driving down a residential street, passing house upon house that look run down and have no signs of young life. You come across one house that seems lively in comparison. It is nothing special to look at by any means, but the few scattered toys across the lawn, and a little boy playing by himself with a basketball seem to bring light to the entire street when brought up against the rest of the neighborhood. I encountered this scene while driving through my town, and it saddened me enough to write this.
The fact of the matter is, there is not much to do in Charlotte County, especially in terms of recreation and entertainment. This is fairly self-explanatory, young people should have access to a wide variety of recreation and entertainment to give them the opportunity to have fun, grow, and enjoy the world before life needs to be taken so seriously. Personally, I have thought about this a lot. Even though I am only sixteen years old, I feel like I have grown up a lot and very quickly. Often I think to myself, if I had the chance to go back a few years and take it slow, would I take the opportunity? I would definitely enjoy the feeling, being carefree, the scariest thing known to me being a hill on my bike (also not in Florida) But of course, life just goes on. We only have one life, and one chance to be a kid learning about ourselves and the world around us while everything seems a bit brighter. Because of this, I continue to affirm my point. Young people should move away from Charlotte County.
As a young person myself, living in Charlotte County, I am more than aware of the fact that there are not many options for recreation and entertainment around. This is not good for young peoples’ growth. According to townofmanchester.org, there are countless benefits for a wide variety of recreation for youth. Reasons include, improved mood, better self esteem, physical and mental health, reduced stress, promoted cultural diversity, meeting friends, building community, and boosted economy to name a few.
Second, there is not much room for advancement either academically or professionally in Charlotte County. This goes along with the previous point, simply because Charlotte County is a small area, there is not much opportunity. Young people thrive on opportunity. Let me explain, say you give a child some toy cars, if the child was bored they would be forced to either play with the toy cars or nothing. Although, if you gave the same child some legos and some dolls or a picture book as well, they would have the chance to explore their options and find what they enjoy instead of settling. It is the same way for a kid in a small town with little opportunity. They will be taught that they have to settle, I don’t support that.
Third, the age demographic is dominated by the elderly, so us youngsters both don’t have the opportunity to meet as many peers, and most likely disturb the greater majority of the community. As a young person myself, I have personal experience with this as well. Obviously, I have met people my age, but there is not necessarily a great population of people my age around. With the second part of that, I know for a fact that I disturb the elderly demographic, even when I try not to do anything. For example, my neighbor has complained about my loud car and my friends and I have gotten weird looks for laughing and messing around in public places.
Fourth, a change in scenery could be beneficial for growth in all aspects of life. According to Cory Stieg with CNBC, “Researchers from New York University and University of Miami found that having new, diverse experiences every day is linked to positive emotions and enhanced happiness.” I am a part of a military family, and because of that I have had the great blessing and opportunity to travel around the world. Because of this, I can confirm that the above statement is true. Every time I have gone on a trip or moved, while at first it was exhausting, it was enjoyable and after the fact I felt a sort of new flame of productivity, imagination, and just a hope that sparked a change in my for the better. This feeling carried throughout the years as well. This is just one more reason supporting young people moving away from Charlotte County.
Finally, Charlotte County school systems are not great, young people should have access to a strong education.
An article from alandaschool.org states, “A good school infrastructure with good spaces makes it a good place for the children to study.” I have personally experienced the Charlotte County school system, and have come to realize that it is simply not a good place for children to learn and grow. Being a military kid, I have grown up all around the country and even the world, and I have been able to experience differing school systems. Because of this, I have determined that the school system in my area is sub-par, for this reason I continue to affirm my case, young people should move away from charlotte county. Education is a gift, so I am not trying to discount the education young people receive in my town, although, for reasons I do not have the time to get into today, Charlotte County does not necessarily put in as much time, effort, and money into the school systems that is necessary for growth. Many other places offer a much better school system, and a freer environment for growth, development, and opportunity for young people.
One final reason for young people to move away from Charlotte County is love bugs. I’m assuming you know what I mean.
These pesky little creatures who come out in the spring and late summer and thrive in the Florida heat. They attach themselves to each other to mate virtually all day long creating a thick cloud of themselves almost anywhere you go. They infiltrate buildings, dirty cars and corrode paint. Jane Weber, professional Gardner, wrote on chronicleonline, “Lovebugs are pollinators”. While this may mean they aren’t completely useless, disagree. We already have a multitude of bees, birds, ants, butterflies, wasps, and assorted land mammals that pollinate year round. Love bugs feed off the flower nectar and could be hurting the other insect population. This is just further reason to leave Charlotte County and Florida if you can, before its too late.
