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When you walk outside, what do you see? I see trees and falling leaves. I see the evergreens still growing. The grass sprouting out of the mud made by the rain. I see the beauty of Mother Nature in full. I live in the country, but what if you don’t see that? What if all you see are cars, buildings, and shops? The busy of people walking to work, of people going to stores and restaurants? Then you have missed out on life’s greatest wonder: nature. Join me as I explain why nature in the rural areas the city folk miss out on is better than the city they trade it for.

Fresh Air

I remember back in fourth grade going into Dilley Elementary and halfway through the school day, I started feeling sick. I started getting headaches and dizzy, which I realize now was because of the fresh paint they had put down on the gym. It got really bad by the end of the day. I wanted to die, yet when I got on the bus and we took off for my rural home, the nausea went away. I thought I was allergic to the school building and cities, as I was in fourth grade. Now I’m older and understand what happened, and I can explain it. I wasn’t, in fact, allergic to the school. The chemicals in the fresh paint didn’t agree with my respiratory system and caused a reaction to where I thought I was sick. Then, when I went out to the rural area away from the enclosed space with chemicals, I felt better. That’s one reason the rural areas are better. We have large open areas filled with trees that will provide you with the freshest air you can have in your lungs. The alternative to that is what I see in the city, all the cars producing the exhaust and all the tightly packed areas where it’d be hard to escape the chemicals that made me sick. 

Communities

I live around Hagg Lake and I know most of my neighbors. I also have a life in the city with my dad in Salem, so I can understand both sides of this argument. While I know that the city is a lot easier to hang out with other people, because it’s just a three-block walk most of the time, what I find is that most people in the city don’t want to talk with you. I heard this one bit of wisdom from my friend that I believe is a very good point. He said that in the city it’s the custom that you just keep to yourself. Do what you want and don’t bother the passersby. There’s so much you can do and a lot of people doing everything. To introduce yourself would only be detrimental to you and the people you talk to. While in the country, there are fewer things to do and fewer people, so they create a community within themselves and will talk to everyone and anyone they meet. It’s this difference that I see from my different homes. While the city has more people and a literally bigger community, the rural areas have a bigger community in which the people and families are the community. It’s this community that benefits everyone more than just being close to people. That’s why I see more country people are happier than their city counterparts. While I understand that the city has benefits the rural communities cannot offer, such as being close to stores and the things you need, the country has benefits that outweigh the city’s.