by Christopher Kendalls

Created on: December 01, 2007   Last Updated: March 04, 2008

I tried living in the country for a while and I have to admit; I take my hats off to those that can do it year in and year out because it isn't for everyone. I had always been to the country, special trips for school, holidays and vacationing with family, but had never really considered living there.

What is so great about living in the city? People think that city living means that you are all outgoing and stuff, loud, fast and quick on your feet, and just all around slick, but that isn't the case at all. Some are like that, but many are just focused on keeping everything okay and well with their own little corner of the metro and go to work and home, and then back to work, and just like what the city has to offer.

What does it have to offer? Thousands of shops, hundreds of schools, and tens of thousands of traffic signals and intersections. High-rise buildings and small buildings not much bigger than a single family home that serve as "hole in the wall" mom and pop establishments. Mega projects that take up acres and attract thousands, on acres of land and smaller, more intimate settings. A variety and contradictory fusion of conflicting ideas about life, race and culture that it is difficult to find anywhere else.

In the city you'll find everything from those whose heart is in the middle of nowhere to those that feel that the city is never big enough, overcrowded enough, or fast enough for them. You'll find God in places with huge billboards for the work of the enemy across the street from each other; churches with strip clubs 100 feet away and hospitals with gun shops and liquor stores within walking distance. You'll find streets that are elevated that overlap other streets that are elevated that overlap a street that actually is "on the ground, on the street" and bridges whose sole purpose isn't to take you across a body of water, but to ease traffic flow and take you across another street.

You'll get lost in the city, physically, yet find yourself mentally, spiritually and psychologically. You'll find plenty of trouble when you're looking to cause it, and none at all if you don't know what to do with it. You'll drive for miles trying to escape the city, yet will almost always find some detour that prevents you from leaving. You'll work and spend the overwhelming majority of your money to stay in a neighborhood that is within walking distance with the rest of the working class folk; thinking you should be in the rich part of town, but no, you really shouldn't.

You'll

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>