The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
One of the beefs people have with Flin Flon is that so many of our young people move away. It's said that if only our fair city had a second industry or more opportunity, everyone would stay and live happily ever after. We hear this so often, in fact, that it overshadows one hard truth: not everybody wants to stay in Flin Flon; many, in fact, are quite eager to leave. This urge Ð surely felt by many of the high school students who graduated this week Ð can be buoyed by any number of factors. Perhaps the simplest reason is that when people are young, they sometimes want to make a fresh start. They want to see new things and meet new people. They want to experience the unfamiliar and (sorry, gossipers) not feel like their business is somehow everyone else's business. Career ambition is another biggie. While there are opportunities here to make a good living outside of mining, they are limited, or at least perceived to be. Even when going strong, mining is an industry filled with ups and downs that hardly appeals to all. The pay may be good, but money isn't everything. And not everyone who applies gets a job. A young man or woman who dreams of becoming a psychologist, musician, video game designer, paleontologist or CEO of Jiffy Pop (I'm not sure where that came from) must follow his or her aspirations beyond our borders. Big city life is also appealing to many, particularly those who constantly opine that there's absolutely nothing do to here. They want dance clubs and multiplexes, pro sports teams and rock concerts, and giant shopping malls and instant access to every service imaginable. They want what a small town can never offer. That doesn't mean large communities are superior to small ones, just that there are different strokes for different folks. We're a pretty biased bunch here in Flin Flon. We think we have the greatest community going, and maybe we do. But trust me, there are lots of other people who feel just as strongly about their dot on the map. I don't know how many times I've heard from Flin Flonners that The Pas and Thompson are complete dives, the most wretched places on earth. I guarantee you there are people in those communities saying exactly the same thing about us. It's all in the eye of the beholder. I once read a survey that said roughly half the residents in a given community are originally from there, while the rest came from elsewhere. It's a simple fact that people like to move all over this mass of land we call Canada and this giant sphere we call earth. Communities hoping to grow (like ours) don't always like to see this trend play itself out. In many ways it is unfortunate, but the fact of the matter is, Flin Flon's not for everybody. One More Thing... I'd be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy Canada Day. Enjoy the festivities, folks. Local Angle runs Fridays.
