In praise of city living.

[angledge]

Earlier this afternoon, I was walking through the FiDi from EPA to URS. All around me, there were people of different nationalities & races, carrying on conversations in different languages. I heard the bells of the Catholic church ring out as I passed by a poster for a Buddhist meditation class. Tantalizing odors emerged onto the streets from restaurants selling the cuisines of many cultures. Office workers who had stepped outside for lunch traded idle banter with construction workers taking a coffee break. The bus rumbled down Howard Street, carrying men & women, queers & straights, parents & children, all moving together through the interlacing patterns of their daily activities.

It occurred to me that all of this co-existence was a complete refutation of the central premise of many kinds of separatists: that different people can't get along. People of different religions can't get along: WRONG. People of different races can't get along: WRONG. People of different cultural backgrounds, different sexual orientations, different family structures, different social classes, can't get along: all completely wrong. Look at any major city & you can see the counterexample – people from all kinds of backgrounds, sharing some portion of their public lives. And even better than that, they aren't just tolerating each other – they're enjoying the experience of sharing diversity. It's part of what brings people into cities, isn't it?

This is not to say that cities are perfect. There are many problems: economic inequities, discrimination in many forms, environmental impacts, just to name a few. But today I was struck by one of the greatest parts of urban life, & reminded yet again of how much I love it.

Comments

$0.02

[jacesan.livejournal.com]

Separatists remind me of fundamentalists. People that are afraid of progress. As the world changes people adapt. If you're not willing to adapt, feel free to isolate yourself from the rest of humanity and continue living in ignorance. Don't try and perpetuate the ignorance though. Some of us enjoy enlightenment.

[effrontery.livejournal.com]

Nicely put. That's absolutely one of the reasons I love living in the city...

[funkyplaid.livejournal.com]

A fitting homage to the urban jungle.

*eep eep*