Into the Wild

Walking over the Williamsburg bridge from Brooklyn into the city I'm presented with postcard images of an alive and vibrant city. One that never sleeps but in turn never wakes even with the sun. I see the lights shining and cannot help but stare in awe at its beauty. On the bridge I walk towards the steel forest that so many people have cultivated into a perfect row of trees. I find only when I am out of the forest do I see the city. Inside the steel I cannot see any intrinsic beauty. Inside the city I am swallowed up and oblivious to its venom. The venom of late nights and alcohol, of not stopping to offer a homeless man change because I'm in a rush. This is a city that envelopes its dwellers into an coma of precision and neglect for others outside of themselves. However, once woken from the coma of city life. On the bridge and out of the steel honeycomb. I can see its beauty. This is the magic of the city that I urge everyone to find and uncover. Here exists both the venom that poisons us and the antidote that will resurrect us.

My initial thought of New York City was that this place was as far from nature as you could get. There's little nature to speak of: no trees, no water (other than the heavily polluted rivers), and almost no wildlife. However, with a keen eye it's possible to see that the city in fact resembles nature. We live like bees in our colonies, constantly rushing to get our work done. We move from flower to flower, from east to west. The parallels between city and forest are uncanny. We literally live in a giant steel forest. What has to happen is the recognition that these images of nature exist in the city. The cities nature is man made, and because of this has its problems. But steel can be beautiful and natural. It may not initially appear this way, but on closer inspection I can see it. The buildings are now the trees I miss from Maine. The streets of people flowing down towards Union Square my rivers. What I have to keep doing is keep reminding myself that just because there's steel instead of wood, I can still find peace here.

The city although infectious and in many case venomous to nature. Constantly eating up the remaining trees with new buildings, but keep in mind that industrial doesn't mean bad. Taking refuge away from the city from time to time to notice how similar the city is to even a place like Maine. When you come to the city for the first time without knowledge of the fast paced lifestyle, you will fall victim to it and quite literally be eaten up by it. However, the same can be said for Maine. The vast wilderness, the almost vacant towns, are simply the opposite but have similar qualities. Living in Maine for 18 years allowed me to see that had I not moved out I would have been perpetually entrenched in small town life. Not ever seeing more of the world. The city is the same. I couldn't live here forever because the same would happen. I would become so content with city living that I wouldn't search out anything beyond it. I would stop seeing its brilliance.

As a dweller in the city now I have to remove myself from its confines periodically, otherwise I forget why it is I came in the first place. The city is the place that it is most apparent that many of us aren't knowledgeable of what a place can lull us into. We become satisfied by late nights and steel structures, rather than by trees and rivers. However what I have failed to realize until now is that both can give us sustenance. And in fact that we need both. The city may not have as many trees, and there are too many people in such a relatively small area. However, the city provides me contrast from the small town I grew up in. The city makes me appreciate both worlds.