Big City Horrors of San Francisco

Bay Area, I’m so torn about you.

While spending nearly a week here, I LOVED all the people I connected with and all the new friends I made. Many deep conversations, earnest laughs and incredible food were shared and enjoyed.

And YET, I could not find joy in your cities or your vibe. The sense of claustrophobia and anxiety here were on another level. Driving anywhere was madness. Parking, forget that!

But the biggest shock came from the alarming juxtaposition of wealth and poverty. In the area where many have wealth beyond any reasonable means, it’s shocking to see the absolute bottom of the downward spiral and total ruins of human spirit.

Perhaps I am a hypocrite for my immediate reaction of wanting to get away from it all, but one thing I know for sure. I could never live in a place and close my eyes on the ugly, the raw, the true.

I’m sure many are taking action and running initiatives to counteract some of these local challenges, but we can do better as humans for other human...

I’m thankful to the wonderful friends who took the time to show me some serious beauty that Bay Area had to offer, from taking a walk down the memory lane, to emerging me into the local tech culture, to sharing local wisdom on inclusiveness at CreativeMornings Oakland, to showing me San Fran off the beaten path.

I know these cities are full of wonderful, resilient, kind-hearted humans like them, and thus I have hope that perhaps sooner than later we find it in our hearts to be kinder and more giving towards one another.

Until we meet again, Bay Area