calm skies over a restless city
Kansas City was electric last night. Thousands of lightning strikes all across the sky and pouring rain which inhibited your ability to look up at it. I think mother nature does that on purpose. The rain is supposed to annoy you to the point that you will get under cover thus allowing you the relative safety from the lightning that accompanies the downpour. As you sit there in your lightning free perch, you get to watch the night sky come alive. The forms and the movement of the storm clouds captured for a moment in the brilliant flashes of light. It's very hypnotic and you can lose yourself in it. Hopefully, in your daze, you won't walk out into it and be struck down with 10,000 volts of mother nature's, "HEY! What did I just tell you?".
The rain falling in your eyes obscures your view, so it's only from an angle that you can watch the show and listen to the constant reports of thunder crashing in the distance. You lose a bit of the asethic of a good storm this way, but it's better than nothing. The last time I watched one of these shows, a forest fire threatened my home and the power went out, so I am learning to love a good thunderstorm all over again. This time I am in a city and I am noticing that I am not enjoying it as much as I have in the past and it's not for fear of a forest fire or a power outage. This feeling strikes me as odd, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that I have been enjoying everything a lot less since I got here. I'm more nervous and tense. My heart is acting up a lot and my sleep is restless and not as satisfying. The only theory I have to explain all this unrest is that I am in a city and it's designed to never shut down, never slow down and to increase the speed of life, or that's how it sells itself. This is causing me to speed up my routine from my rural existence and I don't like it. That's what cities are, really, small towns with more energy.
People that live in cities have faster heartbeats. Are prone to more illness, accidents and mental disorders. Small towns have stresses that are shared with their bigger cousins, but the people that live there are not afflicted the same way. How odd. Hmmmmm.... I think the answer to all of this lies in the stimulus over-kill which city dwellers are exposed to daily and are not even aware of. The root of this over-kill, I think, is that a city dweller is constantly exposed to other humans. You see them, hear them or feel them at all times and they are very close. If you listen through the walls of your city dwelling, you can hear neighbors, cars, air conditioners humming, sirens blaring, city lights buzzing - motion, sound, information to absorb - all the time. I think that this makes people nervous, but I think city people are just not as aware as rural, small towners are. City folk have gotten used to it and only sense it when they go camping and then come back. Then they see it. I think that is why so many city people go camping, to get away from all the noise. Of course, they take radios, TV's, generators and other noise makers along with them. You have to slowly wean city people off city life. A drastic change would slow their hearts to dramatically and they would die from the sudden drop in blood pressure.
In a city, the constant reminder that you are not alone is unsettling and doesn't allow you to relax and just let your guard down. The fact that the city is seemingly 24 hours of nonstop human stimulus can not be healthy. In the country, noises, motion and smells are mostly nature, which is relaxing and doesn't give you cause to react so defensively. (unless that motion, sight or smell is a skunk) In the country, sitting on the porch is just you, there are no buzzing city lights, no cars, no humming air conditioners and no sirens. It's just you and the thoughts you bring.
It strikes me as terribly ironic that city people love what causes them so much anxiety. Their main point to make in the great debate over country life versus city life is this, "there is more to do in a city - more opportunity, more entertainment." By opportunity I think they mean options but you will rarely see a city dweller use those options. Their lives are much the same as a small town dweller's. Find things you like, stick with them. I can see the argument for a city life, but I think that same argument for it, is the same one against it. Yes, there is always an outlet close by to cater to your every whim. Should you need interior paint at 3 in the morning, you can get it. Not that you will be painting at 3 in the morning, but if you needed some, you could have it. Yes, cities offer you choices that small towns can not; more restaurants, more stores, more specialty stores, etc. BUT, how many options do you need? Isn't one of the most common stresses that human suffer from the inability to chose? How long does it take you to look at a menu in a restaurant and make a decision on what to order? You don't want to make the wrong choice do you? And choosing one means you might miss out on the enjoyment of another... Stress, stress, stress. Small towns have places to eat. They have stores. Simple choices, easy to make, allowing your mind to free up space for other, more valuable thoughts. Cities do have options and as a citizen of a free country, you can decide to do what is best for your needs when you are choosing a locale on the planet to call your own. If you chose a city, this may be the easiest choice you ever make again. I mean, you only have to take into consideration; school district quality, neighborhood safety, distance from shopping, transit and emergency services, property value, taxes, job opportunities and growth potential, when making your first city choice, that sounds like a no brainer. Perhaps weather sneaks in there too, I don't know.
I live in a small town, there is no late night traffic. No late night paint shoppers. Living in a small town makes you think ahead, and it's easier to do for small towners than city dwellers. City dwellers are amped up and don't have the time to stop and think ahead. Small town folk have slower paces and don't need ridillin to organize their agendas. A small towner is more likely to have purchased enough paint and other essentials during the day so that they might enjoy their sleep without tossing and turning over what has to be done tomorrow or right now. They will also have more room to store what they have purchased and will be somewhat free from the anxiety of someone stealing it from them. A lock is a rare thing in a small town. If there is one, it was either put there by a former city dweller or because of a city dweller's presence.
City folk love to point out that small towns do not offer enough outlets for goods and services, especially when it comes to entertainment, this is untrue. Small towns have entertainment, it's called, ourselves. Those small town folks know how to entertain themselves and they have plenty of time and room to do it. Small towners don't need "places" to entertain them, they have the patience and clarity to entertain themselves, which makes the entertainment more enjoyable, fulfilling and again, allows for more restful sleep.
In a city, there is always motion, brighter lights and more man made noise to stimulate your brain in an unnatural way. It makes you nervous and uneasy as you are unsure of what to do with all this stimulus. I'm sure this unsettling feeling is the cause of so much of their anxiety that makes you want to buy paint in the middle of the night. Small towners enjoy what noises they hear and rarely see movement. When they do, it's easy to respond to and usually pretty exciting. I think it's because we know that it's not fabricated.
As the lightning fills the night sky, I am comforted in the knowledge that lightning is not a city or a small town creation. In my mind I have created the belief that mother nature could sense my uneasiness and brought me some pure nature to calm my razzled nerves. I am trying to sit on the porch and just lose myself in thoughts of home. I know now that being able to purchase something in the middle of the night is not a luxury, it's a burden. Sleep is nature's perfect gift. It heals, calms, pleasures and is required. What thinking. No mad scientist could have come up with that one. Maybe all these cars driving by are mad scientists who are driving to the store to get more copper tubing for their human reanimation experiment they are conducting during this lightning storm. Hmmmmm....
The rain falling in your eyes obscures your view, so it's only from an angle that you can watch the show and listen to the constant reports of thunder crashing in the distance. You lose a bit of the asethic of a good storm this way, but it's better than nothing. The last time I watched one of these shows, a forest fire threatened my home and the power went out, so I am learning to love a good thunderstorm all over again. This time I am in a city and I am noticing that I am not enjoying it as much as I have in the past and it's not for fear of a forest fire or a power outage. This feeling strikes me as odd, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that I have been enjoying everything a lot less since I got here. I'm more nervous and tense. My heart is acting up a lot and my sleep is restless and not as satisfying. The only theory I have to explain all this unrest is that I am in a city and it's designed to never shut down, never slow down and to increase the speed of life, or that's how it sells itself. This is causing me to speed up my routine from my rural existence and I don't like it. That's what cities are, really, small towns with more energy.
People that live in cities have faster heartbeats. Are prone to more illness, accidents and mental disorders. Small towns have stresses that are shared with their bigger cousins, but the people that live there are not afflicted the same way. How odd. Hmmmmm.... I think the answer to all of this lies in the stimulus over-kill which city dwellers are exposed to daily and are not even aware of. The root of this over-kill, I think, is that a city dweller is constantly exposed to other humans. You see them, hear them or feel them at all times and they are very close. If you listen through the walls of your city dwelling, you can hear neighbors, cars, air conditioners humming, sirens blaring, city lights buzzing - motion, sound, information to absorb - all the time. I think that this makes people nervous, but I think city people are just not as aware as rural, small towners are. City folk have gotten used to it and only sense it when they go camping and then come back. Then they see it. I think that is why so many city people go camping, to get away from all the noise. Of course, they take radios, TV's, generators and other noise makers along with them. You have to slowly wean city people off city life. A drastic change would slow their hearts to dramatically and they would die from the sudden drop in blood pressure.
In a city, the constant reminder that you are not alone is unsettling and doesn't allow you to relax and just let your guard down. The fact that the city is seemingly 24 hours of nonstop human stimulus can not be healthy. In the country, noises, motion and smells are mostly nature, which is relaxing and doesn't give you cause to react so defensively. (unless that motion, sight or smell is a skunk) In the country, sitting on the porch is just you, there are no buzzing city lights, no cars, no humming air conditioners and no sirens. It's just you and the thoughts you bring.
It strikes me as terribly ironic that city people love what causes them so much anxiety. Their main point to make in the great debate over country life versus city life is this, "there is more to do in a city - more opportunity, more entertainment." By opportunity I think they mean options but you will rarely see a city dweller use those options. Their lives are much the same as a small town dweller's. Find things you like, stick with them. I can see the argument for a city life, but I think that same argument for it, is the same one against it. Yes, there is always an outlet close by to cater to your every whim. Should you need interior paint at 3 in the morning, you can get it. Not that you will be painting at 3 in the morning, but if you needed some, you could have it. Yes, cities offer you choices that small towns can not; more restaurants, more stores, more specialty stores, etc. BUT, how many options do you need? Isn't one of the most common stresses that human suffer from the inability to chose? How long does it take you to look at a menu in a restaurant and make a decision on what to order? You don't want to make the wrong choice do you? And choosing one means you might miss out on the enjoyment of another... Stress, stress, stress. Small towns have places to eat. They have stores. Simple choices, easy to make, allowing your mind to free up space for other, more valuable thoughts. Cities do have options and as a citizen of a free country, you can decide to do what is best for your needs when you are choosing a locale on the planet to call your own. If you chose a city, this may be the easiest choice you ever make again. I mean, you only have to take into consideration; school district quality, neighborhood safety, distance from shopping, transit and emergency services, property value, taxes, job opportunities and growth potential, when making your first city choice, that sounds like a no brainer. Perhaps weather sneaks in there too, I don't know.
I live in a small town, there is no late night traffic. No late night paint shoppers. Living in a small town makes you think ahead, and it's easier to do for small towners than city dwellers. City dwellers are amped up and don't have the time to stop and think ahead. Small town folk have slower paces and don't need ridillin to organize their agendas. A small towner is more likely to have purchased enough paint and other essentials during the day so that they might enjoy their sleep without tossing and turning over what has to be done tomorrow or right now. They will also have more room to store what they have purchased and will be somewhat free from the anxiety of someone stealing it from them. A lock is a rare thing in a small town. If there is one, it was either put there by a former city dweller or because of a city dweller's presence.
City folk love to point out that small towns do not offer enough outlets for goods and services, especially when it comes to entertainment, this is untrue. Small towns have entertainment, it's called, ourselves. Those small town folks know how to entertain themselves and they have plenty of time and room to do it. Small towners don't need "places" to entertain them, they have the patience and clarity to entertain themselves, which makes the entertainment more enjoyable, fulfilling and again, allows for more restful sleep.
In a city, there is always motion, brighter lights and more man made noise to stimulate your brain in an unnatural way. It makes you nervous and uneasy as you are unsure of what to do with all this stimulus. I'm sure this unsettling feeling is the cause of so much of their anxiety that makes you want to buy paint in the middle of the night. Small towners enjoy what noises they hear and rarely see movement. When they do, it's easy to respond to and usually pretty exciting. I think it's because we know that it's not fabricated.
As the lightning fills the night sky, I am comforted in the knowledge that lightning is not a city or a small town creation. In my mind I have created the belief that mother nature could sense my uneasiness and brought me some pure nature to calm my razzled nerves. I am trying to sit on the porch and just lose myself in thoughts of home. I know now that being able to purchase something in the middle of the night is not a luxury, it's a burden. Sleep is nature's perfect gift. It heals, calms, pleasures and is required. What thinking. No mad scientist could have come up with that one. Maybe all these cars driving by are mad scientists who are driving to the store to get more copper tubing for their human reanimation experiment they are conducting during this lightning storm. Hmmmmm....
posted by Daniel Loomis | 7:55 AM
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