Quality of Life
Quality of life is something I have chased for years now, that feeling of comfort, the feeling that I do not have to wonder where my next meal will come from, where I will sleep at night and when I will be able to rest my tired feet. These three words mean a lot to me and they show what a human being needs in order to survive in a world which at times forgets us. People forget us, they give us little respect, little to be proud of, and if we let it, life itself will walk over us. We must fight every single second for our dignity, for our quality of life.
Leaving Chicago today, I wonder how many people are left in this city without quality of life, without dignity, without anything to live for. I would like to think that we all deserve the same respect we demand of others when we feel alone, lonely and unhappy. Chicago has shown me a way to return to the past, a past which is often not as beautiful as history paints it. A history we must remember so we don’t repeat it.
We grow with the world, with events and memories happening in our daily lives, with our long term goals and projects. But quality of life remains a topic in my head. What is it? Are we searching for the right elements for a life which is good and worthy or are we searching for things which bring us down?
I recently took up smoking, as a habit I needed to quit as soon as possible. I could not fathom being like those people exerting fumes every single moment they are alone and have nothing else other than to kill themselves slowly. While I still enjoy the sporadic cigarette, more cigarettes are not quality of life, they are just a set up for illness.
More is not always better and louder is not always more significant or important. Many people who have small scale enterprises and lives, can have a great experience of life with the tools and elements the environment allows. In countries like the United States, we believe in big things, in grandiose goals, in exciting and exponentially large events; they are not always better.
Speaking with a friend we discussed food options in big cities like New York, where the opportunity to eat fresh foods and fresh vegetables is not only difficult but oftentimes a luxury. We would like to think our cities are sustainable and able to provide nutritious meals to everyone, but more than often this is not the case. A lot of trash must be created, a lot of energy and fossil fuels are exhausted while trying to get the city experience with the touch of nature.
Quality of life is not only necessary but ideal for people in cities and beyond. Cities, oftentimes, bring crime, unsanitary conditions and inequality. It does not have to be this way if we really want to thrive. Being able to have spaces for recreation - parks and public space as an example - bring opportunities for socialization, for healthy exercise and for the allocation of resources into places which provide the best environment for people in cities like New York.
Learning from the best, I have come to realize bigger is not often better, but rather, obnoxious and tiring. Learning to adapt to environments is important because those places don’t only provide us quality of life, they also open up the road to our future and that of others coming through the planet after us. Learning and adapting is important, as climate change is showing us we are not individuals unique and exclusive to our planet, we coexist with various kinds of species - animals and plants - and beyond that there are natural events we still don't understand. There are things we still can’t put a finger on. The importance of quality of life is that we can survive obstacles but we must have a mindset which is ideologically equivalent to a balance, and in the balance there are people, and people matter. Quality of life is not about wealth or money, it is about space, time and tranquility.