I love the city.

I love the city of Los Angeles, specifically, but I also just really love cities. On Sunday in church, the message was about cities, and how they are the “cultural and economic crossroads of the world,” which causes the most creative, industrious and cunning creatures to flock to them. And that number keeps growing and growing: In 1800, 3% of the world lived in cities. In 1900, it was 14%. Today, over 50% of the world lives in cities.

Do we really have that many culture-makers out there? Or do we just seek connection with those that are at the same time just like us, and utterly different from us?

And, because of the experience of alike-but-different, we create culture. We create technology. We create industry. We create. Or we participate in someone else’s creation. Or, ultimately, we follow and consume, when something that celebrates diversity and connects universally is created. After all, we are people, and it’s this alike-but-different that moves us and causes us to do what we do. Maybe I shouldn’t speak for all of “us” though.

My one-time landlord in San Francisco told me an interesting thing about America’s three greatest culture-making cities: “Smart people go to San Francisco. Ambitious people go to New York. But smart and ambitious people flock to Los Angeles.”

Hmmmm…