Member-only story
Please Don’t Write About Us
Can’t you kindly keep a secret?
A few moments ago, I had that OH SHIT moment again when my favorite magazine penned yet another article highlighting great places in the world to head to because all the other popular places are getting so overpriced that most of us average folks can’t afford them.
Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, Sparky, but what were you thinking?
Because for those of us who live, have lived, and are now getting the hell out of those very places that this magazine (and other publications) have touted as THE NEXT BIG PLACE HUGE SECRET DON’T TELL ANYONE, we have experienced and paid the price for their sharing what we’d kindly like to keep quiet. Thousands if not millions have moved to those “secret” places, and in the process, effectively trashed them. Didn’t mean to (well, most folks didn’t mean to) but they often did.
Because as I’ve written elsewhere, and is proved out daily, when we “get away from it all” we have an unfortunate habit of “bringing it all” with us.
This has been the experience of lots of lovely mountain towns and sweet spots that publications love to tout. Now many are off the special places list because, well, they aren’t so special any more. The locals are resentful, cars with certain license plates are, well, let’s just say…