Romanticized Views

I'm pretty sure everyone has a romanticized view of something. Romanticized views of a big city, perhaps? A dream job? Some person?

You know romanticized views... when you look at something in a way that isn't really the way it is. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that. It can get dangerous if taken too far, though.

Me? I have romanticized views.

I love the idea of a small town on open plains. Why? I have no idea. Well, I have no idea why I'm so very drawn to the plains. I blame living in Dallas for a few years. I mean, mountains are pretty and all, but I just really, really like wide open, flatlands. They're awesome.

Small towns? That I understand more. People say there's more to do in the city. That's true. Lots of more businesses, restaurants, entertainment, employment. Cities have a lot of things going for them.

Right now, I'm living in the smallest city I've ever lived in, and the population is above 150,000 if I recall correctly. That's if I refer just to my city. If I look at the bigger city that it's pretty much a part of... the population goes over half a million (again, if my memory serves me correctly).

So why do I have a romanticized view of small towns? What is it about them that make me wanna up and find one to move to?

Closer sense of community? Space to breathe and live? Less noise and hustle?

To some extent, it's all of those things. Granted, natural social tendencies are gonna be a major factor in how much community one senses, and that doesn't change with small town or big city. Likewise, life in a small town could still end up incredibly busy.

But I think the thing about small town appeal that gets me most is that it doesn't have the same structure as a big city. Here, I live on a street shared with countless other people... which is attached to a bigger street with even more people... and so on. It's said no man is an island. No argument from me on that. But in the big cities, I can't help but feel like just another cog in the machine.

In a small town... or the area surrounding a small town in the proper sense... the daily machine sensation doesn't seem nearly the same... especially for those able to get away from employment in the nearest big city. Even with dependence on the small town, it seems that the sensation would be more of personal interdependence than being another number in a series of corporate and federal schemes.

Oh, and the part about being away from major population centers for survival purposes appeals to me, too.