Our Uber Driver, Who Grew Up In Africa, Made An Insightful Observation About Minnesotans

We were in the Twin Cities metro this last weekend for the Eric Church and Morgan Wallen concert at US Bank Stadium. It took a lot longer than it should have to check into our hotel, so we had to take an Uber instead of the light rail to get to US Bank Stadium.

Our driver Madison showed up and we had a very fun ride to the show with him. He was really friendly, and he shared a bunch of knowledge with us. He told us that he grew up in Africa, but he's lived in Minnesota for the last 30 years. I asked which part of Africa he came from and he replied, "West Africa, Liberia." "Never been there," I replied. We both laughed.

He then went on to share the most interesting thing about our culture that stopped us all in our tracks.

He described growing up in the forests in Africa in the middle of nowhere. He said they spent most of their time in remote locations farming and doing what they could to get by and make a living. There wasn't much of anything in the remote places he grew up in. Now that he lives in Minnesota, he thinks it's so strange that people keep trying to move out of the city. He just couldn't believe that people want to move out into the woods and be away from other people.

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That made the four of us all kind of have a, "oh wow" moment. We forget how fortunate we are to grow up in America and have so many nice things. A different perspective can really make you think. When Madison was growing up he just wanted the simple things in life that you could really only find in a city in his home country. Now that he's found that in America, why would he want to move back into the woods? That was basically his message. He couldn't fathom why people would want to move back into the forest when he tried so hard to get out of it.

Madison grew up and joined the military, which is what eventually brought him to the United States. He found his way to the Twin Cities area and made it his home.

I thought it was something special enough to share. Madison is also a big fan of Duluth, and he goes to the Maritime Museum at Canal Park every trip. Hope to see him again. Thanks, Madison!