As I walked across Brooklyn today, starting with DeKalb Av after taking the N train, and walking down Flushing Avenue until M train’s Lorimer Street stop. I saw how people live different lives as I walked across neighborhoods filled with industrial complexes (like the Brooklyn Navy Yard), projects, parks, and living areas. It was great to get out of the city area of Manhattan and visit, well, a sub-city. This could be a good reason to start reflecting on the human condition of the urban population. But it is not to say anything bad about Brooklyn, it is the nicest and most diverse parts of New York.

But while walking in Brooklyn, I got these feelings that I cannot explain. In short, it is a feeling that develops when a person does not feel belonged to a particular place. Although I was just visiting Brooklyn, I kept on asking myself after every street I crossed: what my life would be like if I where to start living here?. It is a psychologic question that developed as I moved frequently throughout my youth. For the most part, the outcome when posing such a question to myself, is a dive into a sea of melancholic thoughts. But it is not a fear of moving into a new place, nor a feeling of loneliness, nor an existential crisis; it is a grander question about things in general, which I formulate as follows:

There are two types of population areas; ones that exist out of human necessity, and ones that exist as a consequence. Based on these two options, which mode of living do we prefer? A life of necessity, or a life of consequence?