The Phoenix Experience
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4/4/2010
Consider this story. There once were two travelers that, independetly of each other, were moving from the same city and moving to the same new one. The first traveler came upon an old man sitting underneath a tree just outside the new city. The first traveler asked the old man, "What is this city like?" "What was one like you are moving from?" asked the old man. "Oh," said the first traveler, "it's terrible. It's ugly, it's crime-infested, the people there are terrible drivers and extremely rude, and the weather is terrible. I couldn't wait to leave there." "Well," said the old man, "you'll find this city is exactly the same way." The second traveler came upon the old man also, and he asked the old man the very same question. The old man asked the second traveler what the city was like that he was moving from. "Oh,"said the second traveler, "it's great. It's beautiful, the people there are so friendly and nice, and the weather is wonderful. I really hate to leave it." "Well," said the old man, "you'll find this city is exactly the same way."
Over my lifetime I have lived in several, to me, wonderful cities that I hated to leave: Seattle, Denver, Charlotte, Nashville, Knoxville, San Diego, Melbourne, FL, and Fort Myers, FL. I now live in Mesa, and because this metro area is so homogeneous, I also live in Phoenix.
Phoenix-and-The-Valley-of-the-Sun is, to me, a great place to live! The old saying,"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," is certainly true because I cannot understand those who say there is no beauty here. There is much beauty here, in Phoenix and in Arizona, and there is a marvelous ambiance about this metropolitan/urban area. Medical facilites, including the Mayo Clinic, Banner Health hospitals, and Scottsdale Healthcare System, are second-to-none; higher education is first-rate with schools such as Arizona State University, the University of Phoenix (which, incidentally, has the largest student enrollment in all of North America with physical classes as well as online classes worldwide), and the Maricopa County Community College System; major league sports as well as MLB Cactus Leage spring training are flourishing; there are world-class museums; the performing arts are very much alive with state-of-the-art performing venues throughout the community; there is a serious and growing environmental concsiousness here (the National Audubon Society recently opened an educational center/complex on a restored section of the Salt River in downtown Phoenix); there are cutting-edge medical research facilities, such as Scottsdale's SkySong and Phoenix's T-Gen Project which is a leading research cancer center; the metro's transportation system is good and getting better - existing freeways are being upgraded, new freeways are being constructed, and the light rail system has proved very successful; and there is a general great quality of life.
Just as in all cities in which I've lived, there are politics and politicians with which I heartily disagree. Disagreement with politics is worldwide. Just as in all cities in which I've lived, there are periods of weather which I'd rather not have: hurricanes in Fort Myers and Melbourne, FL, blizzards in Denver, snow/ice and dampness in Seattle, humidity and tornadoes in Nashville and Charlotte, and dust storms/heavy thunderstorms/heat in Mesa/Phoenix. Just as in all those other cities, there are the drivers who poke along or cut you off or recklessly speed through traffic on the freeways. Just as in all those other cities, there are local problems.
To those who cannot see the beauty of Phoenix, I would ask where is your beauty? What is it that you miss in Phoenix that you found elsewhere? Whatever it is, is it really not in Phoenix? Or is it that you just don't want to see it? I would urge you to look around with new vision and attempt to find that beauty in Phoenix. If you are truly unhappy here and cannot find any redeeming factor about Phoenix and its environs, I would urge you to go to the place that you believe you can find the happiness you seek if it is at all possible for you to make that move. A curious thing about moving, however, is that no matter where you go, there you are. And if you have moved to Phoenix from elsewhere and find Phoenix intolerable, I would ask you the same question that old man asked the two travelers: "What was the city like that you moved from?"
For me, this was one of the best, if not the best, moves that I've ever made in my life. I hope it's the last move. I would hate to leave Mesa/Phoenix. But if I do, I trust that I'll find the next city just like this one is.
Noah | Mesa, AZ