How to truly be a beautiful place

When reading why Hilton Head Island is not the best place in South Carolina to retire, I wondered why such a beautiful place wasn’t on top of the list.

To me, a community cannot cater to one specific group. We are all people who just want to live and let live. Once you start to stereotype people, your views don’t matter.

Health care, education, affordable housing and jobs are the mainstay of the community. We all rely on tourists, but that’s only four or five months of the year.

We have to entice young people here. Good teachers, doctors, contractors and high-paying jobs are necessary. You have to step back and ask, “Is betterment of the community going to help this project, or are we just buying things for the tourists?”

I’ve lived on the island for over 20 years and seen things that are and are not necessary to the area.

How many of us would love to have our children or family live close instead of in other states or countries? Where I came from in New Jersey, family get-together’s were more like “What time are you coming?” instead of, “Are you headed this way?”

We have kind of isolated ourselves from others, thinking it’s the best way. I hear people say, “Oh, my kids are doing great in Alaska making all kinds of money.” Then they say, “I had my kids early in life, then got rid of them.” I guess I missed that chapter. At what age do you get rid of your kids? Same with family.

I hope this helps.

This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 6:00 AM with the headline "How to truly be a beautiful place."