My inspiration for this post came from my dear, longtime blogging friend, Debbie @ Musings by an ND Domer's Mom, who is not only a gifted...
Two things before you read this post:
1) It's a long one with a lot of words and photos. So grab yourself a cup of coffee, tea, a glass of wine, or a vodka tonic.
2) The photographs are raw and real. I took each one of them over a period of five months, just to show you what it's really like here.
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For those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile now, know my deep connection to living in a city.
Therefore, what I am about to share with you is as shocking for me as I'm sure it will be for you.
I'm OVER city life.
Wait, let me just say that one more time to be sure I heard it correctly and that it was me who said it.
I'm OVER city life.
Yup, it was me.
My City Living History-
As you know, I lived in New York City for almost five years and have been living in Philadelphia for the past 21 years. And during those 21 years I continued to visit New York City almost every month. In fact, the only reason I moved back to Philadelphia from Florida in 2001, was to be closer to New York City.
But something has shifted within me that has changed my entire outlook on city life.
I'm tired of it. What I once found appealing, I now find completely unappealing.
I know this is hard to believe, but I haven't been back to New York since 2020. And what's even harder to believe is that I don't miss it at all.
Both Philadelphia and New York have morphed into cities I no longer recognize.
And to be honest, I can say that about many other cities in America. It's not just here; it's throughout our whole country.
Listed below are five things that are constantly in my face every single day, living in this city.
The Panhandlers and Homeless:
- I want to be able to walk down a street without being harassed by people who sit on the sidewalk with cardboard signs that read: Homeless, while smoking packs of cigarettes and playing games on their newest iPhone. It's much easier for them to make a living panhandling. And there have been many times when those same people have followed me down the street; harassing me. Yesterday, a guy walked up to me while I was waiting to cross the street and screamed at me to give him money. And when I say scream, I mean SCREAM. The panhandling situation is so out of control that you can't even walk half a block in any part of this city, without someone approaching you. And that's why I wear my earbuds when I walk the streets. I use them to cleverly ignore the panhandlers; pretending I'm on a conference call. And I've gotten so good at it that I can carry on a realistic conversation with someone who I'm not actually having a conversation with. So whenever a panhandler starts talking to me, I simply say, "Excuse me...I'm on a work-related conference call", and I just keep walking. LOL!
- It would be such a treat to walk to work in the morning and not have to step over all the homeless people who have made the sidewalk their home by setting up makeshift beds. Oh, and speaking of the homeless, they have now taken over all the parks in Philadelphia by camping out on every single park bench so that no one else can sit on them. And do you know what our brilliant city has done to solve the problem? They had more benches installed to accommodate more homeless people, instead of working on a constructive plan to set up shelters and help them make a better life for themselves.
Here, take a look...
This guy decided to set up his bed directly in front of the door of a local business...
I had to walk around this woman on my way to work one Sunday morning...
Allow me to take a moment here and say that I am not at all heartless when it comes to those who are genuinely homeless. I used to volunteer once a week at a men's homeless shelter and offered free haircuts. So yes, I do care. I do have compassion. However, when homelessness becomes a smokescreen for not wanting to help yourself and expecting everything to be given to you, that's a completely different thing. And I'm at a point where I can clearly see the difference between the two.
Drug Addicts:
- I'm tired of witnessing drug addicts on our streets. A few months ago, when I was walking through City Hall on my way to Trader Joe's, I spotted a young man who was obviously an addict because he was bent over and looked as though he was going to fall facedown. And when I turned back to get another look at him, I noticed a syringe hanging out of a vein in his arm.
Here is a guy on heroin, trying to hold himself up using a newspaper dispenser. I took this photograph yesterday afternoon...
And here is another guy on heroin, walking behind me and yelling into his cellphone. He could barely walk and almost fell over...
Garbage and Trash:
Photo of a dumpster in an alleyway, several blocks from where I live. I wish you could experience how it smells in the summer heat. And this is only one of the many dumpsters that look like this. Our streets also look like this. Trash thrown everywhere...
Crime:
- I can't tell you how many times I've gone into stores, while watching people freely stealing products off the shelves and then walking out the front door without the security guard doing anything about it. And these people do it because they know that they can.
This is why so many businesses have closed in Philadelphia.
Several months ago there was a shooting on South Street. We have a lot of shootings in this city; yet, Philadelphia doesn't always highlight them because they want to create the illusion of "The City of Brotherly Love" to keep the tourists coming.
Here are two photographs of a riot that occurred in front of my apartment building back in June. The riot lasted over an hour and took what's left of our police officers to defuse it.
And just for the record, I couldn't find a single mention of this riot online the next day. It's as if it never happened, even though there was a news station helicopter flying above; filming it...
I could go on and on about about city life, but it would take me three more posts.
So after reading this, is it any wonder why I escape the city every week and want to relocate to a more civilized and conscious community with some peace and quiet, and closer to nature?
Trust me, I'm working on it. I've been looking at apartments outside the city.
Each week, I see more and more people exiting Philadelphia because like me, they are tired of it. Eventually, this city will consist of primarily students attending our colleges and universities. Those are the only ones who are moving here. But even they exit after college.
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In conclusion-
I always try and look for positivity in a situation, even if the situation does not appear to be positive. And although it's been extremely challenging for me to seek the positive in Philadelphia, I have. It's also taught me how to be joyful and grateful within my heart, because those are two things you have to find within yourself and carry them throughout your life.
I continually remind myself of this quote:
"Being joyful is a choice."
And here's something ironic. When I was in Ardmore last week, I spotted this in Suburban Square.
Yes, it was definitely a reminder to myself...
Have an awesome week, everyone!
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