String, do you live in the city. What do you think about it. I had forgot how bad it was and now, 3 days back in the US I see some girl punching another girl in the face while waiting in for the bus. I listen to my buddy, whose place I'm crashing at, complain about the 13 year old shot last night he had to operate on.
I've lived in four major metropolitan areas: Cleveland, Ohio. Madrid, Spain. NYC, New York. Phoenix, Arizona. I will tell you quite frankly, the ONLY city where I ever saw a gun used to commit a crime was Madrid. I know that, that's the exception, but Mostoles (suburb of Madrid, where I lived) was known for being a hotbed of street crime and petty theft when I lived there. That was 13 years ago and I hear it swings a lot.
New York city was a dream. I loved that city more than any other city I've ever been to (and I've been to a lot of them: Miami, San Diego, Paris, London, Barcelona, Phoenix, Houston, Detroit, Chicago, D.C., Toronto, Quebec City, Marrakesh and Dakar to name a few). They've all got their high points, but I swear there's something about New York that is captivating. I didn't see anything overly distasteful while I was there and, believe it or not, my experience with the natives was nothing but fantastic.
Living in Phoenix was nice, I loved the weather, but there are parts there that are just uninhabitable (South Phoenix & Guadalupe for example). The city is totally sprawled-out and you have to drive a hundred feet to buy a pack of gum. People were a mixture of southwest ruggedness and LA facetiousness. I was never totally able to cope with the utter untrustworthiness of the people I knew. Perhaps that was my fault for not being selective, but I moved out there with a fairly sizable Cleveland diaspora (I was working for Progressive [based out of Cleveland] at that time and opened their new campus) and they all seemed to agree that people weren't as forward about their thoughts. In Cleveland, if someone doesn't like you, they'll either avoid you or just say so. In AZ, there seems to be a cultural need to put up a front and maneuver & jockey friends for political reasons (a very L.A. trait).
Then there's my hometown, Cleveland. It's quite livable. Easy going and remarkably humble people (you have to be, it's not like you can name-drop "Cleveland" to people and get a reaction other than, "Oh, man... I'm so sorry!"). Very blue collar. You can make friends easier than anyplace else in C-Town. It's a city comprised of lots of small towns, each with their own German, Irish, Italian, Slavic, African, Latino, or Asian heritage. Much of the city is a rusted out hulk and it's never rally recovered from the industrial exit of the 70's and 80's. It's experiencing a bit of a revival, but it'll never be the city of Carnegie and Rockafeller (both of whom made Cleveland their home).
As far as the violence goes, well, I guess I'm numb to it. I was told by a friend who went to India once, that the overwhelming overpopulation coupled with the abject poverty is almost unbearable. It all stands next to the most beautiful vistas and buildings imaginable. But after a while, he said, your senses become numb to the smells and contrast that it doesn't bother you anymore. I'm assuming that the contrasts and plights of the first world are very much the same.
It suddenly reminded me of a time i saw a guy get his head shot, off, his shoulders. suddenly I thought, religion makes sense.... Imagine how difficult it must have been 5000 years ago. No wonder you needed to convince people of hell.
You've hit the nail on the head. People need to make sense of it all (literally and emotionally) and religion fills that void. For many people the horrors of the world overwhelm them and they need to believe that something better awaits. The infinite nature of space/time when contrasted with the infinitesimal nature of their life needs rationalization. "God" solves those issues for people.
~String
