I have lived in Detroit for 36 years. [[A lot longer than that if, like some other folks, I was willing to award myself "Detroit Cred" for living anywhere in the tri-county area.)
Somehow, maybe in spite of its generally depressing vibe and the tiresomely pugnacious demeanor of so many of its citizens, I still kinda like it. But, what the hell; it's Home, and Home is where the car aims.
However, I have some complaints. Of course. One cannot live in Detroit and have no complaints, unless one's previous home was a tree-house in the Amazonian jungle wherein one lived with a family of smelly psychopaths.
So, just in case I become terribly peeved about one thing, or another, and decide to hop into DetroitYes! to vent my spleen and air my socially-toxic grievances, I now wish to launch a preemptive strike by announcing that I do, in fact, Live Here and when I am dissatisfied with, annoyed by, or good 'n' goddam angry about some aspect of Detroit [[or even Michigan, for that matter,) I do not give a damn how things are in Windsor, Toronto, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Los Angeles, New York City, any other place in the U.S., and certainly I really couldn't care less how the hell things are in any part of Europe.
I would like for things to be better here. The fact that somewhere else is worse off does not lend, to me, any measure of contentment or sense of relief, just as hearing all about how some other city has its act completely together does not confound me into embracing the absolutely ridiculous, idiotic conclusion that if they can do it, we can do it, too.
This isn't a fuckin' Monopoly game, and we didn't all start out with $1500. Like any other city, Detroit has its own unique traits, essential aspects, and some innate characteristics. It was built in a particular sort of way, for a distinct set of reasons, and it expanded in similar fashion, all the while drawing its own cross-section of races & ethnicities.
Whoever else they may be and wherever else they are, We're not Them, and you can't get There from Here.
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