Durham is "Most Tolerant City in the US"! Raleigh is #18

[VickiR]

Good thing they aren't using the folks on this forum! Tolerant?!! Ha!

Ok, ok...3/4 of you are OK!

[dobguy1]

Durham is not my home town but Ive been here for 6 years. I moved from San Diego California and when I got here I was working as an electrician, the work was steady but the pay was pretty low. 15.00 for a journeyman. Regardless I was working and kept working but got real sick, started losing weight and eneded up in the hospital with menegitis and came reeeaal close to kickin the bucket. I never really got a chance to figure out the whole Durham thing, it seemed to be mostly blacks and kinda cliquesh (sp) I know Im a transplant so this is their world, not mine, I came from a beach town where there are Hells Angels and all kinds of wackos so I think every place has its own good and bad, Ive had my car broken into, Ive heard stories of people getting mugged, homes broken into, the whole deal...the only thing I will say from what Ive heard and seen is that the place has the haves and have nots, doctors and lawyers make the bucks, there is a whole community of people who struggle on my side, not bad people just struggling...you can see it in their faces and as they walk I ca see that possibly they have never known it to be better...Im not sure.....maybe thats just the way life is, some get a better stick thats all, I was a Marine in the 80s here at Camp lejeune and came back 20 yrs later. I know if it werent for the docs here I would have died no doubt a bout it and because they saved my life I had to give up a career and a home and lost alot, on the flip side Ive realized that life isnt all about money and getting soemwhere...Ive learned empathy and patience and seen my own mortality in the balance. Im not afraid of being robbed here, or held a gun point, Im still a big guy and have the Irish temper which Ive seen come out in past experiences living at the beach,,,but Im older and wser now and dont live that way and find myself more afraid of myself than others or places....I was raised in a rough town back in the 70s and I really think this place pales in comparison, so in closing I think its all in perspective, where u are...it can be anightmare anywhere, rich people are miserable too...when we accept where we are and how we are we can fully appreciate life regardless. I bought a ticket to Paris and ended up in Amsterdam...the views are nice just the same.