Life in the City

I grew up in a small, ruraltown in upstate New York, where crime was negligible, except for the occassional barfight on Friday night (we had a lot of watering holes in town). The village police, who knew nearly everybody in town, and I believe knew who to target., made their rounds , and the usual suspects were picked up. I had the unfortunate opportunity to fall under their scrutiny(I was quite the party animal in those days) and was picked for DUI. I went to court, paid my fine, and had my license revoked for a year. We had a small town paper called The Review, who apparently had no breaking news to cover, but did enjoy posting the names and charges of those who appeared in village court. Kind of a public humiliation I guess. Needless to say, I learned my lesson from that experience. I now live in a large city, and the rampant crime here is frightening. Seems like everyone has a gun (I don't, but am seriously considering it), and the majority that do are not supposed to have one. I just find it sad that disputes are settled with violence. The words revenge, drive-bys, and regaining street respect appear in our headlines daily. Growing up, we never worried about leaving the front door unlocked, leaving the windows open at night to capture the fresh air, or even locking the car door. As it is, we keep our front door locked at all times, keep the blinds closed, and make sure the car alarm is engaged. It's a sad state of affairs, and I guess the older I get, the more I yearn for the good old days.