My proposal

I've never lived in a big city but have always pictured myself in one. Multiple reasons for that: I like having lots of stuff to do. I like meeting new people every day. I like not having a car. I like wearing a scarf and sunglasses and trying to look important but like I don't really care about being important. I like reading while riding public transportation. I like that I can date someone here and not have to worry about whether it will impact my ability to date someone else because in small towns everyone knows everyone and if there are two cute girls in the whole town there's a good chance they're best friends forever. I like sizing people up, and being sized up.

One theory I have is that cities beget tolerance based on the unavoidable proximity to lots and lots of people, generally, and an impossibly diverse mix of people, specifically. Small towns have charm, but they also provide easy escape and simple isolation. In a small town you have to really look for culture and make an effort to be inclusive; in a big city you can just sort of absorb it all, and you'd have to try pretty hard to be exclusive. And being around so many people makes us more responsible to each other. When public transportation is your SUV, and an apartment is your gated community, it makes sense that reflecting on the way we treat and consider others would be less peripheral.

Maybe I'm completely wrong, and if that's the case I'll know before too long.

It'll be good to think about these kinds of things and write them down to distract myself from how much money I'm spending.