Three years ago I asked myself why I work so far away. Three years later I am asking myself the same question. And like three years ago, the answer is the same: “I don’t know.” Although the answer is both more simple and more complicated than that. The simple answer is this - I needed to pay the rent, cover bills, and buy food. The complicated answer is well… more complicated. After looking for months for a job in the city (and with no luck) I expanded my search to the outer reaches of the ‘burbs. I received a job and for two years I decided to reverse-commute quite a few miles to work. What is reverse-commuting? It’s commuting the opposite of everyone else of course. Everyone is commuting from the suburbs into the city. I was doing just the opposite - from the city to the suburbs.
Many people who live in a city can walk or bike to work. For those who have to go a little farther, some can take a bus or a train. If you’ve read this blog at all, you know that I try to be environmentally conscious. During my years of Chicago suburb employment, I looked into taking public transportation to work when carpooling was not an option. If I had done that it would have been over two and a half hours from the time I left my apartment until I arrived at work. And that’s a conservative estimate. With all the transfers each day from a bus to another bus, to a train to another train the cost adds up as well. And even if I did want to spend five hours commuting every day, the buses and trains don’t operate early enough to get me to work on time. So for two years, I was asked how I could drive that far each day. Believe me, it wasn’t easy. But I was committed to the city. I was dedicated to its ideals, its people, and its lifestyle. Ultimately, I was devoted to livingand working in the city. It never worked out. I moved out to the south coast of Massachusetts before I could ever find a new job in Chicago.
Now in southeast Massachusetts after six months of exhaustive job searching I found another job. It’s a commute again. The drive, although only a few miles shorter in distance than my last commute, is much easier. It seems shorter, it is less stressful, and is easier on the car. Plus, the scenery is much better than the back-end of Chicago suburbs and giant billboards. Instead I drive through Cape Cod, along a tree-lined highway. Such is life, I presume. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to walk, bike, or have a short commute to work. Not all of us are able to get a job in the same town we live in (or the next town over). Sometimes we have to commute. Unable to find work in my own town to pay the bills –I have to commute. Although I think commuting should be kept as short and simple as possible, sometimes life isn’t that simple.
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