Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Downtown

Tonight I took the metro to DuPont for dinner with a friend in town. My friend is dog sitting for a fellow Wisconsinite who is out of town for a few days. The Wisconsinite has a top floor apartment in DuPont, a swanky part of town. Her top floor apartment has a loft with an outdoor patio. I cannot imagine the cost, but I love visiting for dinner. I noticed that the walking traffic in DuPont, downtown, was far heavier than in my quaint Capital Hill neighborhood. My friend and I walked the dog to Logan Circle, and I chased the dog around the park. The dog preferred to chew on the lease or meet other dogs.

Having a dog downtown makes me feel like Paris Hilton - too much money to care about anything but my domestic pet. Now I love animals; grew up on a hobby farm. However, I wonder about the meaning of life walking my dog and eating organic vegetables. When I cross town to my neighborhood, there are a few homeless people gathered around the 7-Eleven on my walk home. Where is the balance between the dog walkers and the homeless who need a hot dog? These are the urban living questions I hope to find a peace with in my own life - where do I fit? In what scenario do the dog lovers and people living in poverty win?

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