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City or Country? The Constant Question

For the majority of my adult life, I have lived in one city or another. Arguably, my hometown in Western New York–really, a small city–contains a walkable urban center with access to pharmacies, parks, the post office, the public library, and a handful of restaurants, bars, and modest shops. Like many towns throughout the Rust Belt, the joint terrors of Walmart, peripheral sprawl, automobile dependency, and the contemporary drug scourge have hollowed out the core, stripped it of its past vitality and vibrancy, and degraded its public spaces. When I walk through the downtown, I seldom pass another pedestrian. Many of the surrounding neighborhoods appear shabby and neglected.

This past weekend, my wife and I traveled to this corner of rural Western New York to visit my family and celebrate my younger sister’s recent engagement. Along the way and during our brief stay, I remembered what makes this corner of the Empire State great. Although it might lack the dazzle, variety, and culture of a big city, Western New York bursts with nature.

Rolling hills, green in the spring and the summer; brown and red in the autumn; and brilliantly white in the winter, hug the town. At almost every street corner, one can spot these hills with a mere turn of the head. The Allegheny River and its tributary the Olean Creek wind through town. When I was in college, a cleared and paved trail opened up along the River. On my way to and from my campus jobs, I would ride my bike along the trail. During weekends, I would often retreat to my favorite spot just off the path, a bench facing the river, and watch the slow water and gaze at the green hills. As English major (and a passionate and dedicated lover of literature to this day), I felt the tug of the Romantic poets and their sentimentalization of nature.

Allegeny River

Allegheny River in the morning, at an undisclosed location in Western New York (Photograph by author).

Still, days after my college graduation, I left for a distant city. I wanted to look at paintings in museums, attend lectures at libraries, browse for hours in bookstores, watch foreign films in old movie theaters, and eat at restaurants with strange food from around the world. I did not wish to be wedded to a car to experience such things and to socialize. Thus, I chose city life. I still choose city life, albeit with less enthusiasm and more skepticism.

City life or country life? This question has bedeviled writers and thinkers since the birth of the written word. The ancient Greek poet Hesiod portrayed a lost golden age in his Works and Days. In this distant, primordial past, man lived harmoniously with nature. However, Hellenistic Greece was the quintessential urban society with Athens as a center of philosophy, drama, poetry, science, and overall culture and thought.  One model cannot exist exclusively without the other.

City life promises art, culture, and learning, the cornerstones of civilization. Country life grants us beauty, silence, and peace. Mankind might need both to lead a full, enriching life. The resurgence of many American cities and the record popularity of state and national parks attest to both these desires. Cities present people with an efficient, rewarding, and environmentally-sound model for daily life; nature allows us to reconnect, refresh, and recharge.

Last week, I visited Western New York in the summer for the first time in years. Its beauty enchanted me as if I was encountering it for the first time. My first morning there, I awoke early and walked along the river for nearly two hours. I found my favorite spot of old, rested on the bench, and felt my mind, always churning with thoughts, anxieties, and concerns, slowly shut down. Birds skimmed along the grayish-green water. A feeding fish’s tail broke the surface of the river. Birds sang among the trees. An unseen animal crashed through the woods. On the final day of our trip, when the sun still hung low, I sat on a bench on a cool Sunday morning and watched the mist spill down from the hills and obscure the landscape.This is what I lost by choosing the city.

Bog

Is this technically a swamp or a bog? Another Western New York nature scene (Photograph by author).

At their finest and most refined, think Paris, Barcelona, or sections of Boston or New York, cities testify to the ingenuity and intelligence of the human race. Nature lives in such places as well, but in a crafted, sculpted, and controlled manner. This is nature tamed, even devised by man. The parks of the great Frederick Law Olmsted in many American cities stand as perfect examples of this manifestation of nature.

Nature, still wild, varied, and even dangerous, testifies to the creativity, fecundity, and might of the divine. Pope Francis touched upon this in Laudato Si. When a city shrinks or passes away, nature always and shockingly quickly returns. This can be witnessed in many once thriving and now decaying Rust Belt neighborhoods and cities.

St. Francis

St. Francis and Brother Wolf ponder this great question. Statue behind Francis Hall at St. Bonaventure University (Photograph by author).

The city or the country? Maybe this question has no final, set answer. Maybe, it’s one of those vexing, deep philosophical queries which one never resolves during the course of life. Maybe, more simply, it’s a matter of personality or temperament. Nothing more than a preference.

4 Comments

  1. Tim on July 26, 2016 at 8:19 pm

    Beautiful piece. Very well said. Yes, the popular idea that city life is superior to the country is simply false. However, I believe most people must experience both to truly understand that, like most things in life, it is matter of personal preference. Both city and country living possess their share of powerful benefits and shortcomings. Ultimately, I think one should choose to live where they would be most happy and at peace. As for the section of Western New York described so eloquently by the author, I can also attest to its splendor and serenity. All seasons are lovely in their unique way, but summers are very special. Strolling along the Allegheny River Valley Trail on a cool summer evening, with a light breeze in the air, is heavenly. As the sun drifts behind the mountains, turning the sky into a series of magnificent intertwined colors, it feels like you are walking through a Monet.

    • David J. on July 27, 2016 at 2:23 pm

      Thanks for the feedback on the post and for sharing your own impressions of the topic and the stunning geography of WNY. You mentioned that viewing such a landscape reminds you of a fine piece of art. I would present a different notion: art is attempting to capture the feeling of experiencing such scenery or preserving it lest it be forever lost. Think of the paintings of the great American landscape artists or the poems of the British Romantics.

  2. Cara on July 27, 2016 at 10:08 pm

    Great article Dave! I would chose the country life because of the peace and quiet that a a city does not. The allegany river trail is an amazing peaceful walk with many benches to sit and admire the scenery. Even though city life does give you culture I believe the country life can too in different ways! Enjoy the peaceful country life as much as possible because some day we will to busy to notice it or come back to it.

    • David J. on July 27, 2016 at 11:50 pm

      Provocative insight, Cara, about enjoying the country life while we have it. I think that it applies to most people’s everyday experiences and lives. We live in a culture and country that pushes us to always move forward and to think of what lies ahead. However, by focusing on this, we neglect the present and fail to appreciate our lives at the moment. As the cliche goes, tomorrow may never come.

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