by Ms. K

Created on: May 21, 2008   Last Updated: June 14, 2008

Security, peace, and naturalism are the three biggest reasons living in the country is preferable to living in the city. I lived in the country for the first eighteen years of my life and in small communities for fifteen years. I have lived in the city for the last three. The only positives I've found about the city are more convenience and educational choices.

When I was 10, an older couple moved in down the road from us. They came from Detroit looking for peace and quiet. Even after they had moved, it took a while for them to realize they had it. Mr. Collins was a walker. He would walk 3 miles around our block every morning without consideration of the weather. For the first several months, he carried a handgun on his side. My family found it amusing and a little sad. He didn't need a handgun unless he planned on shooting a few bunnies or deer! Nobody out there was interested in harming him.
As children living in the country, my sisters and I could roam the fields and forests all day long. The worst thing that could happen was a bodily injury due to a twisted ankle or fall from a tree. We were aware that most animals, even those considered to be predators would run from us faster than we could run from them. We knew to look where we were going in case of snakes, but to be honest, there were few poisonous snakes around. In all of those years, none of us were attacked by a wild animal.
Sure, there were people around who would steal from you. They might steal wood from your woodpile or siphon gas from your fuel tank, but we usually knew who it was or would know very quickly. It was rare to get the law involved because most situations were resolved through conscience and community pressures. Neighbors didn't want neighbors mad at them. We relied on each other in case of emergencies like being stuck in a snow drift or having a broken fence causing horses and cattle to get out and roam free.
The stillness of the country seems to bore many city dwellers. Honestly, I miss hearing all the songbirds, crickets, owls and frogs. I miss laying out in the fields of our 40 acre property in the daytime, finding pictures in the clouds. I miss laying out there at night, looking at the myriads of stars unseeable in the city. In the country, you could sing at the top of your lungs and have only bugs and beasts as an audience. Sometimes, late at night, there would be no sound at all. Silence. Golden silence.
I can tell you what kind of animal makes what kind of tracks. I can tell you

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