Today I’m taking advantage of the fact I arrived at work early and stopping by for a quick post. The topic for today is downtown. I don’t like working here. I really don’t like it at all. It’s noisy, smelly and filled with pour souls. This part of the city can be quite depressing if you think of it. Sure, there is some beauty when you walk out by the bay. However, when it all comes down to it, it is an ugly place.

The moment you enter into the city it becomes apparent. You smell the urine, feces and body odor of its residents, taking care not to step on one that may be sleeping on the floor or running in to one stumbling in a alcohol induced stupor. Walking further, you come across the handicapped or mentally challenged rambling the streets. You get asked for food, cigarettes or even just company in general.

Though the sadness isn’t only due to the homeless or the vagrants. You have the business persons here, too. Some of which spend countless insane hours behind a desk, only surfacing for a quick walk across the street to Starbucks for some coffee. Those pour souls also hardened by the city. They walk past you in a rush to their next meeting, rarely stopping for even a good morning. It is a concrete jungle and for the lions it is kill or be killed.

That synopsis is not all of downtown. There is kindness here, from the ones able to look past the stereotypes of the beggars, from the ones on the street, too. We are not all cold. I myself listen to the stories. I give money when I am able to afford it, if nothing else, providing those with a cigarette when asked. I do what I can working light within the darkness, though the city saddens me.

I would much prefer laying in a field of flowers or curling my toes in the sand on a beach. This city and its noise makes me long every day for the tranquility and peace of nature. At the end of each day I am only to happy to walk out of here, only to have to return the next day. I suppose there is a bright side to a the gloom. How else would you appreciate the sun if there was no rain?