The coronavirus pandemic is pushing people to look for an alternative to expensive megacities, the shortcomings and weaknesses of which experts have been talking about for a long time. The pandemic is changing the course of the usual development of an egocentric civilization, turning the centers of the world economy into epicenters of infection and putting their future in doubt. The coronavirus crisis has highlighted the weaknesses of metropolitan areas and accelerated decentralization processes.
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I know firsthand about life in the metropolis. I was lucky to move to Moscow from a small village in the Krasnodar Territory, to plunge headlong into the rhythm of the big city, to make a career. And, after 12 years of life in the capital, with the advent of a pandemic, move to a leisurely southern town, starting life from scratch.
I understand people well, especially young people, who are attracted to megacities. Education, choosing a place of work, the possibility of implementing the most creative ideas, circle of friends, theaters, cinemas, clubs and so on - all this makes our life filled with meaning, energy and a sense of relevance and success. This is on the one hand.
There is another side hidden from view. A big social difference, the inaccessibility of buying and renting housing in comfortable areas and conditions, kilometer-long traffic jams that deplete human resources. Many people live outside cities, commuting an hour or more to work and school. Work also often requires one hundred percent return without a break for lunch and personal life.
Of course, I am not saying that there is one scenario for everyone. Big cities have their own energy that inspires, inspires, gives motivation to move forward towards your goal, no matter what. And at the same time, it devastates, depersonalizes a person in a mass of many millions. You either rush with everyone in a common harness, or you are eliminated along the way. There is no time for sentiment. It is necessary to have time to "spin" in all areas in order to keep up, succeed, taste all the delights that the inhabitants of the periphery are deprived of.
There is not enough time for everything, so sooner or later you have to choose and prioritize: work or family, or personal life, leisure, friends, study, and so on - which is more important? It's hard to choose.
Personally, I did not have enough time for friendly meetings, heart-to-heart talks, and just to find myself in this life. And still there was a lack of silence, when the head is free from city noise and extraneous thoughts. The flow of the city makes it impossible to stop and think. This, I think, is a big disadvantage of living in a metropolis. Even closed at home, do not escape from the atmosphere of pressure. The feeling that you need to run does not leave. Stopped means left behind. From whom, what? Unclear. But you have to run and figure it out along the way. Few, I believe, manage to survive in this race, while maintaining life guidelines and values. This struggle - internal and external - makes someone stronger, breaks someone, makes someone go "over their heads".
Today's crisis , in my opinion, has exposed the hidden side of life in megacities. He showed how people, despite the abundance of material possibilities of large cities, remain only mechanically connected with each other.
I think that the initial idea of any city should be based on the need to bring people together to organize a better life, and not to fight for life.
Perhaps today's outflow of people from megacities will help us all rethink our goals, relationships with each other and find the form of life that will bring us together, despite the distance.
I encountered those people who decided to sell housing in a metropolis and bought several hectares of land in order to build a house and buildings for livestock and storerooms for grain, engage in subsistence farming, although they have never lived in the countryside. People are adults, they are over 50 years old, but they understand that in Moscow one cannot survive without work, and children still need to be put on their feet. And believers, almost the entire community, are going to leave the cities in order to avoid "chipization" when it is forbidden to pay in cash. Their churches are convinced that the last times are coming and it is necessary to quickly switch to subsistence farming. So the trend with resettlement in fields, forests, abandoned villages will increase. Communication among people will become rural, but without a change in one's own egoism, all former disagreements will remain. Where and who will form them? How can we get through to them if there is no Internet? Don't waste time...
I agree, Lyudmila. Human communication is important anywhere and anytime. I remember the old saying “It is not the place that makes the man, but the man the place”.
The outflow of people from megacities will not be able to help us find the meaning of life, our relationships will remain unclaimed, as we move away from each other.
It is absolutely true that the search for a new life should be made up of the need to bring people together, and not to compete for a warm place under the sun. The unification of all people into a completely new community - with a common goal, as one family, helping and caring for each other, will bring us closer to Nature, and open the World of Universal Happiness and Prosperity to us!
To be honest, I have no idea where the changes that are taking place in the world will lead us all. But they definitely make you think about life, where to go, for what or for whom? I did not expect that everything would turn upside down in my life. One thing I can say is that such drastic changes and shake-ups help you grow and analyze your life in a new way.
In a metropolis, people often do not even know their neighbors in the stairwell. But the pandemic and long-term quarantine forced them to pay attention to those who needed help - buy food and medicine, walk the dog. The virus has united people who are ready to take care of their loved ones and each other, and has set a good example for the future for all of us.
Yes, that is right. For example, I did not know my neighbors on the landing. And now I ask myself the question: what prevented you from getting to know each other?) Nothing. It just didn't matter, it didn't matter.
It has always been at all times, and still Moscow beckons and beckons everyone even now, there are a lot of newcomers and young people, even successful ones in their cities.
Yes it is. Sometimes I really miss Moscow. I consider Moscow my hometown, although I was born in the south.