Wealth: New York City vs. Denver

LeAnne responded to my post with the Blue Steel pictures, skeptical about my comment about Denver being more affluent than New York. I can't say I blame her. When thinking about New York, especially Manhattan, people think of the bustling business crowds. They picture Times Square with its flashing neon lights, Trump Tower, or the Rockefeller Center, and of course, the Empire State Building. The people of New York are presumed to be wealthy and materialistic. And all of this is true. When I walk out the door of my apartment building I am instantly surrounded by the throngs talking on their cell phones, clutching their briefcases and purses, off to another 80-hour workweek. I've been asked if I feel guilty serving $6 cups of coffee at Starbucks, and the answer is no. The store I work in is in a highrise business complex. The people who come in choose to buy from us and they can afford it.

So why is it so much harder to be in Colorado? Well, let's look at the other side of New York. Even though walking out my door drops into the ocean of materialism and wealth, the squalor and most wretched part of our world also surround me. Just walking down the block to class I pass a small woman, with her hair covered in a tattered scarf sits back on her heals, she keeps her eyes on the ground, staring holes through the sidewalk. She holds a sign begging for money for food for her 3 children. In the opposite direction, toward Madison Square Garden, a lone street musician blows out "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on his trumpet until 2 a.m. in hopes that the passing tourists and business men will drop a quarter into his trumpet case. If I walk down 5th Avenue, past Rockefeller, toward the Apple Store, I pass a Presbyterian church with a sign that says "All Are Welcome Here." The homeless have used cardboard boxes to make divisions on the steps so each has their own section to sleep in. Most of the benches I pass after dark has someone trying to sleep on it.

Now, we could have a decent debate about the homeless. Why are they homeless? Don't they probably make a decent amount of money begging in such a wealthy city? These are just a couple of very valid questions with complicated answers, but the fact is, they are there. They are out on the street right now, as I write this. Is there somewhere else they could go? Maybe. But they are still there.

What about Denver? Yes, it is true that every city has its poor and destitute. No place is perfect, but I really struggle when I am in Denver. Now don't get me wrong. It is gorgeous out there. I love the view of the mountains, and the weather is incredible, and downtown Denver is really nice (although it's kind of funny because it seems like a walk in the park compared to here). But I have a really difficult time when I am out there. Other than the relatively small, concentrated downtown area, Denver is mostly composed of sprawling suburbs and rich white folk who have nothing better to do than buy new gas guzzling SUVs and live in their little covenant protected sub-divisions.

It’s all so big out there. They have their Super Targets with Starbucks inside, and massive houses in Highlands Ranch, and even the roads seem so huge. Seriously, why does everyone have to have an H3? It’s not like they use them for anything other than tearing up the highways. Out there it seems like everyone has so much! I have never felt so distinctly poor as when I am in Colorado. I feel like I stand out as destitute, and it’s stupid because that’s not even the case!

In New York you can be anybody or anything and no one will look at you weird. You are freer to be yourself. As a result, it feels more real. In Colorado you have to be the stereotypical upper middle class person, or else you’re looked down upon. Obviously, there is still a lot of fakeness here, especially in the corporate world. You have to be vicious and will to do what you need to do to get anywhere, literally. Like if you need to knock someone out in the crosswalk to make it across the street before the cab hits, you might just need to do it. Ok, I’m kidding. I’m tired.

But seriously, I’m not stupid, I know that NYC is often used as the poster child of materialism, and that is accurate, but it also has so much of the opposite and everything else, that it really kind of balances out. In Colorado I feel like I’m breathing the fakeness. You can’t escape it. It’s everywhere. The money is everywhere. It’s like it does grow on trees in everyone’s private back yards in their gated communities.

I don’t know if any of this made any sense, and I doubt anyone cares, but I felt the need to respond, because the flaunting of wealth in Colorado literally makes me feel sick. It’s nauseating and I hate it. Like I said, here it’s more real because there’s an abundance of everything. You only need to fake it in specific areas if you’re willing to do whatever it takes to reach the top. For the average person, you can be who you are, and no one is going to care, because there is bound to be a group of people like you.

It’s ok if you didn’t care enough to read all this. I mostly wrote it for my own benefit. I feel a bit better now =)