Real Words

There are so many reasons that I live in San Francisco that I couldn’t possibly count all of them. However, the core reason is that San Francisco is a place where the general attitude is one of laidback open-mindedness. People just let each other be here in a way that you don’t always see everywhere else in the country.

This topic came up at a dinner with friends the other night and one of my friends put an interesting spin on it. The specific part of the conversation was that we were trying to describe the difference between the liberalism of San Francisco and the liberalism of other places in the country. It’s something that’s been talked about a million times before because San Francisco pushes the boundaries of permissiveness.

In coming up with a description for the difference, one of my friends made the following (paraphrased but poignant) remark:

“The spectrum of acceptable attitudes in San Francisco is from ”I shop at the Farmer’s Market sometimes” through “I grow all of my organic food and am completely off the grid”. In contrast, the spectrum of acceptable attitudes in most other liberal cities in the United States runs from “I get all of my food from the Wal-Mart grocery store” through “I shop at the Farmer’s Market sometimes”.

Although this obviously only looks at one aspect of life, it boils down the basic difference between San Francisco and the rest of the nation. We take what is considered highly liberal elsewhere and make that the bottom rung of acceptable behavior here.

And although others may not like that way of life, I find it inspiring. The best thing about San Francisco - better than the unique neighborhoods, the rich history and the beauty of both city and nature - is that San Francisco just lets you be whoever you are. What’s more inspiring than that?

Question of the Day: What’s the most inspiring thing about the city where you live?

[Tags] writing, inspiration, san francisco, liberal, attitudes, way of life, farmers market [/Tags]