Propensities and Lifestyle

(Where Are You Vacationing?)

The word propensity has to do with decision-making direction.  Synonyms are predilection, proclivity, tendency, preference, disposition, and attraction.  Given normal circumstances, propensity is the decision one is most likely to make.  It is that toward which one is most inclined.  It is a natural leaning.

That which determines propensity is one’s lifestyle.  And lifestyle is a child of one’s view of reality.  And, although we are all programmed with a certain view of reality by those who raise us, we can deliberately change that view.  We are not locked into it although it is our propensity to be locked in.

There have been basically two primary directions for human views of reality – liberal and conservative.  Liberal is openness to the new while conservative is attachment to the old. The moderate direction is a mix that wishes that the liberal would slow down and the conservative would speed up. No one is totally any of these but it is the dominance of choices we make that indicates our preference and, therefore, our propensity of lifestyle.

There are a lot of propensities that indicate these lifestyles.  Here is one that is different from the norm.  It was announced during an NBC news broadcast on July 7, 2019 based on the result of a poll.  It is what distinguished between liberals and conservatives when asked to choose between two options for a vacation: visit Yellowstone in Wyoming or Branson in Missouri. 

Yellowstone National Park needs no description beyond its geysers, waterfalls, boiling mud springs, animals, and natural beauty.  But you  may know little about Branson. It is located in southwestern, Missouri close to the Arkansas boarder.  It is a large lake area surrounded by all manner of day and night entertainment – theme parks, lake cruises, golf courses, museums, and shops.  But the primary focus is music: Lennon Sisters, Crystal Gayle, Gatlin Brothers, Mel Tillis, Jr., Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Dolly Parton, Oakridge Boys, Waylon, Willie and the Good Ole Boys, The Platters and tributes to singers like Sinatra, Elvis, Strait, and Denver.

According to the poll results liberals were most likely to go to Yellowstone while conservatives were most likely to go to Branson.

One thing this tells me is that liberals want to interact with and preserve nature while conservatives want to interact with and preserve culture.  Another aspect of the poll indicated that liberals were more likely to travel abroad while conservatives were more likely to travel in the USA – which insinuates that liberals want to experience the new and unknown while conservatives want to experience the old and known.  Of course there are other factors that shape vacation decision-making like available resources. But whatever the poll reveals it implies, at the least, lifestyle propensity based on view of reality.

Draw your own conclusions about the meanings of this poll.

We need occasional release from the difficult and compelling conflicts and dramas of our interaction with culture.  We need space to renew our spirits and cleanse our vision. So, where would you prefer to go on vacation?

Robert