New York

Everything that furthers companionship is a dress that properly clothes virtue.

Immanuel Kant
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Hello Sandy
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I don't know what furthers companionship any more because I don't have any. There was a time when I lived among people I admired and was admired by them for what abilities and talents we had and how we used them. Now I live among petty criminals who are admired for their ability to go undetected. What has brought me to such a wretched state? Never mind. I don't want an answer to that. I want an answer to how I get out of here and back among people I can admire for good reasons.

There is virtue to be found in the world. I know that. But for a gregarious man like me to be stuck in a place where virtue is not a goal and a practice makes for a hard and painful life. Companionship here seems to consist of getting together and getting stoned. Where is the desire for a better life?

I seem to be living in a community of people who have given up in one way or another, as if there was no other way to live, as if there was nothing more to life than just existing until you die.

Help!! Get me away from this masquerade. I never want to fall into that mentality and have no temptation to do it. I don't fit in here, obviously. In short I'm not happy here. But where will I be happy, or at least alive?

These vagabond shoes
They are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it
New York, New York
(Ebb)

Is there crime in New York, petty and otherwise? Of course. a lot of it. But there are also artists, actors, musicians, writers, thinkers. For every one hundred people who don't give a damn, there is one who does, and with millions of people living there that's a lot of people who care, a lot of -people to admire.

Well, it's a dream. But it's one that has occupied my thoughts most of the day, every day, since I was finally convinced. by irrational reactions to virtue itself that I live in a dead end town.

Now I have to make a long, painful walk on my crutches to do some food shopping. In New York that would be just to the corner. or on a bus. Please NYC, take me back. I'll be a good companion.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
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