Reasons to return home

Michael Hussey makes some reasonable points about the lack of business opportunities in Maine (BDN letter, April 22). As a senior at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., I have the privilege of holding Maine at arms’ length, having left it four years ago, but continuing to return on lengthy visits.

Almost 50 percent of elementary school students will tell you their main goal is to grow up and live in Florida. However, having lived elsewhere in the United States, I admit there are many strong reasons for me to return to Maine. The main reason is that while Maine has beautiful vistas and excellent people, there are still places we can grow.

If one wants to form new businesses or start a political movement, Maine is still small enough to make this possible. While other places are saturated with businesses and views of every possible kind, and some I had not even imagined, Maine still has many niches left to explore.

In a college with a demographic only slightly more diverse than Maine, we are often undertaking questions of eliminating misunderstandings between groups, such as the Palestinians and Israelis. The main point each discussion comes back to is communication. And in Maine, with the small close-knit communities, we still have that privilege. In a world where you can exist for years in the corner apartment and never reach a single person, we must celebrate that we live in a community where there are still so many things to explore, and so many ways in which we can affect each other and create positive change.

Kathryn Adams

Holden