I always leave New York thinking things will make more sense somewhere else. Away from the hustle of the packed streets, the people and the noise, somehow everything in my life that doesn’t make sense (and right now that seems like most everything) will become more clear,(surely it’s all this smog that’s been making things so hazy?).
Going to a different city is like booking a ticket to your own hindsight. The ability to take yourself out of your daily life gives you the ability to look at your life once removed. In a foreign place surrounded by unknown people you can look at yourself in a different light (and a different time zone). And while looking back is dangerous (oh, the mistakes I’ve made), it (like bleach) helps to clarify things.
Looking down on the patchwork quilt of the Midwest you can begin to wonder about those stretching miles of grass and trees with long and winding roads and find the answers to some of the questions you’ve been asking yourself back in the city (out out damn spot). Life isn’t just street corners and traffic jams and high-rise apartments. There is a world of open space and fresh air and quiet and reasonably priced real estate that’s easy to forget exists after too much time in Gotham.
But you can learn just as much about things flying back to a place as flying away from it. No matter where you travel to, hindsight (like life) stays the same, and some stains can never be removed. But you can at least take comfort in the perspective that comes at 30,00 feet, and recognize when the topography gets less flat and is suddenly full with lights, that it sure is good to be home.
No comments:
Post a Comment