The Sweetness of the air

Last year I lived an hour out of town; and over a mountain range. The air was sweet there. It is something that cannot be explained to a city rat: the pleasure of merely breathing in. The air in the city, even the cleanest city, is never sweet to breathe.

Now I am only a thirty minute drive from town; and in the same valley. The air isn’t bad here, like it is in town, but it isn’t sweet, either. And in the morning, when there is no wind, I can hear the traffic of the city.

The pleasure of breathing in: another thing we have been robbed off by economic progress.