Quick: Country Mouse or City Mouse?

All things being equal, and of course, they never are, would you rather live in the country or the city?  Where is your more natural home?

I once asked a new friend this question via IM, so his response to "country mouse or city mouse?" was in short-hand: "CM."  Oops.  Turns out, he's a country mouse who lives in the city. Life interferes sometimes, preventing us from our 'druthers.

Suburbia, of course, combines the best of both.  Especially when it's pretty, natural, with trees and flowers and no sidewalks and quaint shops and a house on a lake.  Suburbia is a great compromise - depending on your suburb. It's not all WalMart (though I can't complain about Target).  It's a great backdrop to childhood, and a comfortable setting for raising kids.

the best of suburbia

But in combining both, suburbia also leaves you kind of with neither.  So in adulthood, I've come prefer both real city and real countryside -- for different things.


From the city, I love the prevalence of coffee shops (even pushcarts).  Book stores.  Coffee shops IN book stores.  Boutiques that I can't afford, but like to browse.  I relish the opportunities for culture - museums, theater, ballet, music, innovation...though I don't really take advantage.  The hustle-and-bustle feels very important, the availability of taxis is reassuring, and the proximity of people is warming (except for when it's stultifying).  Supermarkets that stay open all night (or at least until midnight) are as they should be.  The skyscrapers that attest to the vast creativity of humanity -- a friend's astute observation on the Manhattan skyline -- is exciting and overwhelming and breathtaking.  I've never found the lullaby of sirens squealing throughout the night endearing, however, nor do I find cramped living space "charming." 

From the country, I love the fresh air, no matter how cliché that is.  The views too -- meadows, woods, seashore, even desert.  There's something invigorating about it all -- the "how great is Thy creation" (Psalms 104) experience.  The gusts of wind, or gentle breezes.  The rustling of leaves, the chattering brook waters.  I like the sunshine, and the storms, and the darkness of the dark.  I like the quiet.  I almost like the crickets.  I like the hearkening back to a simpler time, even if it wasn't ever really simpler, with hints of home-made bread and a fire crackling in the fireplace.  I might like the isolation too, if it weren't so, well, isolated.  Lack of easy access to basic commerce and more importantly, hospitals, gives me pause.

According to Wikipedia (a legitimate source for this purpose), the country mouse/city mouse divide has become an idiom in the English language (my IM friend needed no explanation).  And in case you thought it was just a children's book, its origins are with Aesop, and other fabulists (from France, Romania, Norway).  Or so says Dr. D. L. Ashliman, a retired professor of Folklore from the University of Pittsburgh (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0112.html).  His texts (including variants) paint city life as more luxurious, but more dangerous.  Plush pillows, tasty delicacies, but fearsome cats and dogs as well.  The country mouse seems to come out ahead.

I'm not sure whether one chooses to be a city mouse or a country mouse.  We may choose where we live, or be subjected to it by the slings and arrows of external demands (more on these another time).  Where we feel most at home, however, seems not be a conscious decision.

Me, I'm pretty sure I'm a country mouse -- one who has gotten comfortable with the amenities of the city.