Montana... so many thoughts

Montana,
What a place...
A place where the mountains touch the sky, bison and elk run free, and people escape the everyday rush of city life.
A place where things seem to slow down.
A place where the wild still lives.

Its also a place where closed mindedness still seems to roam freely and new ideas aren't openly accepted...
I've been very sad in the last two semesters to see so many college students completely closed off to new ideas and listening to the ways and ideas of other people. I've also seen this in everyday people of Montana. It makes me extremely sad to see. People tend to be extremely nice to one another and to your face they'll seem accepting.... I'm not saying ALL Montanan's are like this, just the majority of the people I have encountered. Let me give you some examples...

More than once have I over heard students hating on our president, if it was for his politics I wouldn't care. But no, they're saying that because he's black he'll ruin our country. I'm not sure how those two equate...

In my Seminar class (class mission: to broaden your horizons and open up new doors) people were not willing to hear about other peoples religions or their lack of religion. These people were so horrible to each other and not willing to even consider other peoples ideas.

I saw this in my anthropology class too, hearing Wicca called a cult (its no more of a cult than Christianity or Islam) and that more than one god had to be wrong. Hearing that the Imbongu tribe of New Guinea were a bunch of heathens (they aren't).

I'm tired of hearing the term "fag" being thrown around and having to deal with people being complete homophobes. There's nothing wrong with gays, that's just who they are... stop being stupid.

Looking back I'm able to say this: Thank you mom and dad for raising me in western Washington and having a fairly liberal family. Thank you for showing me that everyone should be equal. Thank you for (purposefully or not) exposing me to a gay couple at a fairly young age and explaining to me that it was ok that they live that way. And thank you for not raising me christian (never saw that one coming did you?!) and allowing me to explore both the sciences and different religions respectfully.

I'm glad I've been able to experience Montana, but I'm not sure its the place for me. I've met some amazing people and some people I will model my life not to be like. But to be honest... I'm ready to be back in Washington and its "liberal" ways...