I grew up in the suburbs.
Even thought it was just a 30 minute drive into Los Angeles from my house, our woulds could not have been more different. Within walking distance of my house were strawberry fields, dairies and pleanty of southern-fried everything. And while all that has dramatically changed since my childhood days, it is still, well — the suburbs.
I was a different kid growin up in the suburbs as well.
I was a dreamer. The kid who had huge plans and big aspirations for what I was going to do with my life. I suppose all kids have that, but as I got older, mine never seemed to wear off. While most of my friends had dreams of working at Wal-mart and completing level 5 of Halo on x-box live, I was dreaming about creating beautiful experiences that were going to forever change all of humanity. I seriously thought I had a disease. I wondered why I couldn’t just be content with living out the American dream of a wife, a home, 2.5 kids and cat.
When I moved back home after college, the chasm between me and my peers could have been the Grand Canyon. Many of them had moved further and further into apathy, and I had developed a greater passion to do something that mattered.
It was then that it hit me.
People move to the suburbs to escape the little voice that is inside of them that is calling them to something bigger. It’s safe here. There isn’t anyone driving you towards greatness, or reminding you that there is a huge world out there beyond the strawberry patches. It sucks the need from our souls to move to the next level and experince something beyond ourselves. There is simply Wal-Mart and x-box live and the American dream. What more would you need?
We are in a recession.
That may seem like an incredibly unnecessary statement, but out recession goes much further than dollars and cents. We are in a recession of ambitions — of dreams and hopes and life. You see, the economy will eventually bounce back and everyone will have jobs and food and security again. But without a community of dreamers and leaders willing to help push people to the next level, all of those resources will be pointless.
I live in the suburbs,
I feel like I am sitting on an oil field of dreams that are lying dormant under the surface. Possibly the greatest untapped resource in the western hemisphere. What would happen if we drilled down deep enough? I can only imagine what would happen if all of the talent and passions of the suburbs of the world were awakened.
– the rest of this post was not saved, as my wireless session timed out at Panera. Maybe I’ll finish it later when I have the energy 
