I was taking a geography class in 8th grade. The teacher was trying to demonstrate reasons political boundaries become obsolete. He called on a kid and asked him where in town he lived. Then he asked him where he lived before that. And before that. And he walked this kid back about 8 residences, scattered all over town.

The teacher's point was that people move, so that boundaries become inaccurate demographically. But my point is that the teacher happened to call on a kid who had moved a lot. It wouldn't have worked if he had happened to call on a kid who had never moved. But the teacher wasn't just lucky to call on a kid who moved a lot. The fact is that he knew, by looking, that this kid came from a family that moved all the time. How did he know? I can answer that question by telling you the reason that some people move a lot.

We're all fallible people with our weaknesses and nasty streaks. Problems build up like oily crud builds up on an engine. It can be very hard to resolve these problems, and sometimes we don't even feel able. So, say, you get in a shouting match with your neighbor. Then you get drunk and waste your rent money. One solution would be to apologize to the neighbor and make a plan to catch up with the landlord. But if you have too much pride and stubborness and not enough work ethic, it's a lot quicker and easier to skip out instead. Get a new neighbor and a new landloard.

So moving is like the reset button. The problem is that the person who is moving is the problem, so it starts again. The solution is to grow and learn, or alternatively, to just keep moving. But the second solution really shows. My teacher could tell these people took that solution repeatedly, just by looking at their kid. There's a heritage for you.

Lesson: you can't leave your problems behind. You ARE the problem. The things you call problems are really symptoms. You can postpone the symptoms by avoidance for awhile, but if you do, it is even uglier when the bill comes due, and it can affect generations. It's nasty. The sooner you face the music, the better off you'll be.