Get to know me

I guess I never really wrote an introductory blog. So I’m going to do that now because I want everyone to know background so that they can look at what I post from my shoes. My names Matt VanPelt and I’m from Springfield, Pennsylvania. Springfield is a suburb about 15 minutes south of Philadelphia. In high school I went to Philadelphia almost every weekend. I guess I made myself become a “city slicker.”

People in Philadelphia don’t care about anyone other than themselves. I guess that’s how they survive. I know that I picked up that mentality. If I see a homeless man, I don’t even think about it. I’ve been asked for money so much that it doesn’t even phase me. I guess I stopped thinking of bums as people and more like a tree that was on the same corner everyday.

            I’ve carried that mentality to Virginia Tech. I’m used to seeing a homeless person and not feeling sorry for them. My friends who are from Southern Virginia are not used to seeing a homeless person. If we ever walk by a bum, I don’t care but they really do. They get all upset that he has no money. But I know that if I gave a homeless man money its not going to help him in the long run. I know that if I gave money to every homeless man in Philadelphia I’d be homeless too.

            Where I come, from cursing is a part of normal conversation. But if I curse when I’m talking normally people from the South think I’m angry. It’s just another word in my vocabulary. I know I don’t need to say the words, but it’s just a habit that I need to break. I probably should break it, but then when I go back home, ill pick it up again. So I really don’t know if I should even try to break it. Why should I try?

It’s part of who I am and where I come from. It’s my culture and that’s something that you should never change. My culture is one where you say “wallter” instead of water. My culture is one where you say “Philadolphia” instead of Philadelphia.

Maybe I have an accent to you but you have one to me. Maybe my culture is weird to you, but yours is also weird to me.