There are some cities that are not easy. They are hard; in large part because they require navigation. This is a skill that takes time, effort, or both. Because of this, it is often difficult to find enjoyment, attractions, love; to even find history, and culture, and experiences in the hard city. This is not to say that such things don’t exist in the hard city; on the contrary, they do, but they take patience and a sense of exploration.
There is nothing wrong with a city that is easy to navigate through. These cities are often dense in structure, have great public transportation, and allow the pedestrian to stride through various neighborhoods with the ease of finding attraction around every corner. Exploration is still a necessity in the easy city, but it takes less effort than in the city that is vast and wide.
Too often, individuals from the easy city, or the perennial visitor, complain when they encounter the hard city. They begin to make comparisons. They argue that the hard city is unsophisticated and superficial. Their complaints are based on frustration and lack of understanding more than truth. And sometimes they are based on the simple fact that these individuals are not explorers.
The hard city has just as much as the easy city. It is just as cultural, with depth and dimension. Those who are born and grow up in the hard city know this. They’ve had to develop their navigational and explorational skills. Most of these hard natives see little point in arguing with those who complain. They continue through the streets, helping those who request it, but rarely add to the complaints heard from critics.
Abraham Lincoln once said the following about human nature, but it can be applied beyond man’s relationship to himself.
“When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you usually will.”
If you look for the bad in a city, expecting to find it, you usually will too.
I live in a hard city, but I’ve also lived in an easy one. Yes, I enjoyed the easy city, but I know that my city is just as cultural, real, deep, and urbane as all of the great metropolises on this planet. Easy and hard are just different degrees of the same thing; just as good and just as bad in their own ways.
Copyright © Tyler Gant 2009
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