"The Pursuit of Happiness"

To often does society create this idealistic scenario of the life we could live if only we live a certain life. We must value education, live an upright life and be ambitious and the pursuit of happiness is guaranteed to be reached. However city life has its way of smothering all your goals and aspirations, while forcing you to live a life you never saw yourself indulging in. From our reading from last week the section that stuck out to me most was about the “charity girl.”

The charity girl was in many ways the poster child for what success looked like. She achieved further education, she obeyed the ten commandments, she even had ambition. However, the moment she chose Chicago as the place to pursue her music, all those things that made her destined for success dwindled as time went by. There was no personal connection with anyone, because the city is filled with millions of souls but no one seeks community within the city. She states “The city is like that. In all my work there had been the same lack of personal touch. In all this city of three million souls I knew no one, cared for on one, was cared for by no one.”

From the moment I moved into the city for Chicago Term, I have felt this disconnect from the rest of civilization. Everyone seems to be on a their own mission, with no time or want for anyone outside of the already known. One day while at Tailor Lofts I was curious on who the people were that I was living with in this ten floor building full of students that I only see in passing. At an attempt to get to know at least those on my floor, I went door to door to introduce myself and hopefully learn more about them. However, I was in a rude awakening because instead of running into welcoming faces, everyone seemed a little off balance for my audacity to even bother them with my introduction.

The city is so disconnected from establishing personable connections everyone puts themselves into solidarity. No one looks past their own situation or life because in the city no one else matters but self. Although the story of the “charity girl” was one of misfortune, it is not a rare occurrence unfortunately. For those who come into the city by themselves are at an great risk of being consumed by the selfishness of the city and will have a lesser shot at the pursuit of happiness.