John the Skeptic sez:

"Even in my city (90,000), rudeness seems to be on the rise in the malls and on the road. People don't want diverse communities so more and more gated communities spring up everyday. Private schooling and home schooling cater (in part) to the same thing. The vision for future development is to turn the county into a wall-to-wall country club community. ( a serious proposal to the local Planning Board, btw). I guess those of us who don't make $100k plus a year can live in the neighboring counties."

Oh, boy is this true. My community is a bit like this, though a bit bigger. Everyone new coming to town wants to live out in the suburbs in a new gated housing development so that they never have to see the poor people. I've met many, many people who are completely unaware of the level of poverty that actually exists in some neighborhoods in our town. They live in the suburbs, maybe commute downtown (one to a car... grr!) to work for the state, private-school their kids, and never see the run-down shacks. They never see my neighbor who talks to the streetlight when he gets off his meds, or his step-father who rides a bike several miles to work each day because he can't afford car insurance or even a working car.

I guess I'm a little warped. I sort of like big cities, some of them. A big city can have a marvelous energy. I adore Vancouver BC and San Francisco. I live where I do because it's a great place to practice medicine and I have great partners, and we are well rooted where we are. But sometimes I get bored and restless, wishing for more excitement and challenge. For me, life in a small town or on a farm would make me a little crazy.