City Mouse and Country Mouse

Strange, or not so strange, as it may seem I've always been very attracted to both the city and the countryside. I walked home today by Grand Army Plaza, and it being later in the year the sun has begun setting closer and closer to the time I leave work. Anyway, today it was well on its way west by the time I was out of the building and onto the main thorough fair. As I was walking the air was cool and the sun was still reflecting a sort of orange light off the brick and glass, lighting up the fire escapes on the fronts of the buildings. The trees of the plaza were in the distance and cars and people were all around keeping the street busy. And I guess it was there that this realization of my love for the two types of places sort of struck me again. I've always been very politically and socially interested in the two places for various reasons, but I started thinking about how my reaction was more than that. I started thinking there must be some inherent aesthetic quality similar in both that draws me to these two extremes. Yet, as I sit here now, aside from the obvious-to-me pulls of each place, I think it might be more than that. Perhaps it's not the places at all, but perhaps it's the way light hits all things at sunset. Whatever it paints seems to take on this very organic quality, as if it's perfectly obvious that this thing exists and exists where it does, as if there would never be another place that this thing could exist. And if it's even possible in a place where so little is naturally occurring, the sunset has this astounding effect on brick, mortar, and steel. It makes it all feel perfect and right. It kind of reminds me of the first sunrise I saw (not a sunset I know, but bare with me). I was on a late night train running through city after city. We paused briefly in an open air station god only knows where and I remember waking up and realizing that I was witnessing the sunrise. Now while the station was open air it was still all city around it and there was broken down concrete, graffiti, trash, you name it. But the sun and whatever quality it possesses made it all seem just breathtaking and perfect. Maybe I'm overdoing it, but then again maybe I'm not. Maybe this is just one of those small things about life I learned to love and appreciate. And I'm not saying that the sunrise or sunset is going to do it for everyone; of course there are issues in the world in need of more immediate attention. I guess all I'm saying is that no matter where I go: countryside, desert, inner city, suburbs, or vacant lot, I know that I can take some comfort in the fact that at some point in the day, the external world will seem utterly natural and right, even if just for a moment, and that small moment is worth a lot to me.