Sometimes I have my moments of peace and tranquility. During those times, I can truly appreciate my life in the city or town or County that I am living in. And then sometimes I turn on the television and see a cross cultural display of lives in other cities. For example, I might be watching 'city walkers'. This show was designed to show how many US cities have developed over the years to become more walker friendly. I think this is really great, seeing that those cities may not have been as 'nice' before than after the reconstruction. And in that show I see people 'walking' in each new improved city. And of course when there is a show about a certain topic such as walking, they will have to put in a story of how a certain person may have lost their ability to walk, had to go through physical therapy to relearn how to walk and to show the value of being able to walk. The clips of such is there to remind us that everything we have and do is basically something we should appreciate and not take for granted. But it is after these clips, the clips of recovery from a 'downfall' that the whole show seems to begin taking a turn. After such clips of recovery, my mind begins drifting towards viewing the people, the cities with a different mentality. My mentality began with appreciation for walks, for nice kept city walk ways where people can walk and exercise and then it turns to 'what sorts of people' are within each city. I didn't really realize that there were too many 'differences' between people who could walk on sidewalks, but after the rehabilitative clip, I began noticing that there were many sad and despondent looking faces. What began as an enthusiastic and appreciative show all of a sudden for me turned into a show showing that NOT EVERY PERSON IS AS APPRECIATIVE AND GRATEFUL for their walkable sidewalks and cities. They, to me, begin to appear as if they feel as if they are 'owed' something although they have the same sidewalks and walkways that everyone else is using. For some reason the show, after the rehabilitative clip, seems as if trying to show how even 'city and well to do living' is the same as living in the 'slums'. I use the word 'slums' for a lack of a better word. It seems to me as if the director is trying to refocus my attention on the 'not well to do's' in The U.S. even though the clips are of well to do areas and cities and zipcodes. And even in the first segment of the show, where the facilitator was a local living lady in the 125 St Part of New York, and although she refers to her neighborhood as being very close to the Bronx, she and the rest of that clip does not seem as if they are trying to make aware that there are 'hurting' people, that there are 'monies lacking' people. It seemed to me as if she was saying we are doing very fine and we are very happy and we like it and we appreciate it. But when after the rehabilitative clip the places and cities of walkabilities are in better, more lucrative areas, it seems as if the people are not as appreciative, not as grateful, not as cheerful. It seems as if they are trying to say, 'we are professionals and we are also human but we are not Cheerful, we are not that grateful, we are not that appreciative as those who are living in the 125 St. Part of New York although we live in more affluent areas. And with these 2 different approaches to life and not to zipcode prestige, I begin to wonder how these 2 different sets of people are in the same show of 'walkability' and appreciation. And then I being to imagine that if I was to 'visit' those cities which had the well dress despondent persons in, that I would be intermingling with such persons rather than the cheerful upbeat persons I saw in the other segments of the show. And of course, when the human mind begins to compare and contrast, just as any T.V. monitor has its contrast and hue dials, things begin to get fuzzy. T.V. and what is aired/played on T.V. has a strange way of being able to conform minds into what they are trying to express.
Just in case you are wondering to which 'show' I am referring to, here is the link. Click on the button which says, 'Start The Series' and you might or might not understand what I am trying to say. https://www.linktv.org/shows/city-walk
