Why people shouldn't be living in Phoenix, Arizona, or any city on Planet Earth


If you've ever been in Phoenix in the summertime, you may have wondered "Why would people live there?" It gets HOT in Phoenix. Not warm, not uncomfortable, but life-threateningly, dangerously, fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk hot. During the big heat wave recently it was like standing on the sun. And there's no other way to describe it, the city should not exist, it's a monument to man's arrogance!

And I agree. So, the question is, where should people live? If you're in Phoenix, chances are your first thought is: San Diego! To which I have one word: earthquakes. I've lived in Southern California, and believe me, if you're a worrying person like me, it's not easy getting a good night's sleep thinking about that. Don't get me wrong, I love coastal California, but putting several huge cities on the San Andreas Fault is really just a monument to man's arrogance. Or confidence. Or faith.
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My first thought along these lines was when I was delivering newspapers on a dark and cold Sunday morning in the dead of winter in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The temperatures there regularly fall to thirty degrees below zero. And if you're not sure what that means, that's about sixty degrees BELOW the temperature which ice freezes. So as I stood there in the snow, with my newspapers, I really wondered what in the world people were doing living there? I was there because I was born there, and believe me, I got out of there as soon as I graduated from High School, got a car, and learned to read a map.

OK, so now I know what you're thinking? Where, exactly, on Planet Earth should people live then? How about a Tropical Paradise? Of course there are things called Hurricanes, and Typhoons.

Let's see, how about where a LOT of people choose to live, along along the eastern edge of what is known as "the Ring of Fire". That's where Tokyo is.

Yeah, I know now it sounds like I'm just picking on cities. Pick any city on planet earth and I'll give you a reason that people shouldn't be there. And now you see what I mean, because it's all about compromise. The people in Pompeii were happy there, with the beautiful weather, and the delicious grapes, until that darned volcano erupted.

I live in Phoenix. I shrug my shoulders on days that are insanely hot, and am glad that I'm not out in it, and that I have great air conditioning in my car and house. My friends in California don't spend a lot of time dwelling on earthquakes, they focus on the cool ocean breezes. I'm sure the happier people in Pompeii were enjoying the wine, not looking at Mt. Vesuvius. And that's how it works. The big blue marble is a very dangerous place for people to live, but it's the only home we have. That's us, that's home.



Image at the top of this post: Flying over Phoenix, Arizona in the 1950s

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