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People don’t move into the city because of high gas prices, or the bad commute. Nor because of a hatred of lawn mowing or the neighbors that drive into their garages and don’t come out until they are on their way to work. Its not the feeling you get when you stand on your street and looking both directions can only see the same repetitive architecture.
It’s the people. And I am not talking trash about people in suburbs, people are people no matter where you find them. My point is that places make people behave a certain way and I want to live in a place that encourages interaction because like it or not we are all dependant on each other and its only when we embrace people and begin to trust them that we are going to learn to truly live. Inside those messy, real, dirty, down to earth relationships we find life and we begin to realize that when we help others we ourselves get fulfilled. You have to take some of the messy to get to the real meat of things.
You can’t build places around selfish lifestyles and expect people to step across the lines and reach out. When you are in a place where you are naturally going to blend and interact you find that the world is truly full of a lot of very good people.
And I like good people.
1 response so far ↓
1 Erik // Jul 1, 2008 at 12:07 pm
That reminds of those communities along the Mississippi last month, joining with their neighbors to hold back the floods to protect their towns. It shown their goodness in tough times , a literal view of the messy, dirty, real, and fulfilling relationships that are out there. I heard one woman on the radio exclaim how amazing it is to see so many people willing to help strangers!
I believe people have a desire to do good, to help their neighbor, and to love where they live. And the places people live, a stereotypical suburban neighborhood or an apartment building, can be great and interactive even though naturally those places discourage interaction. By the small actions of good people willing to step out of the norm, get out of their dens, and act on those ideas that so many of us have to motivate and encourage community. There are plenty of ideas out there to start change in any setting, yet getting out there and doing it is a different story. I just think that if we’re in a place, a place that doesn’t encourage interaction, and moving is inconceivable, joy and fulfillment can still be shared.
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