And, finally, home, not missing the city, not at all, not one iota, not a teeny-little bit.
It's the summing of late-stage capitalism, where the rich are being divided from the poor, the poor, unseen, invisible, walking the streets addled with their backpacks and shopping carts, and those, the security guards that patrol the malls and sacred spaces, to keep them out, themselves only a few short steps or slight misfortune away from being in the same situation.
The malls, restaurants, thrift shops, overflowing, the panic to buy more stuff, shop more, consume more, the "Live goes on as normal" when the briefest look around would assure you that nothing is even slightly, not even the teeniest bit, normal, but let's all just keep on pretending...
It's as bad here, everywhere, it's a cancer that's spreading, growing exponentially, the numbers of the disenfranchised, those without work, homes, vehicles, it's doubling every couple of years, and we're building taller skyscrapers, digging up roads, paving, the gap between the rich and the poor represented in the vertical stratification of the cities, building up, build +15 levels so that the rich never walk on the street and see the uncomfortable truths of their privilege, not that they would notice, we've become quickly blind to the invisible thousands that wander without hope, purpose or home.
Addiction is not the cause, it's the symptom, when to have 2 jobs is no guarantee that you'll be able to afford lodging or food, and why, then, would you do so? To give up your life merely to survive is slavery, done now under the guise of capitalism, a free-for all where the money's been divided and that little bit of hope is daily grown less and less.
So it goes, and I'm back to my own smaller world, but a world where I largely know the players and can make a small difference in the outcomes.