Occasionally I get out into the boonies, or out into the ocean, and the peace and quiet is overwhelming. It used to be something that took quite a while to get used to. That's how screwed up one's life can become when one isn't accustomed to living away from the technocracy. Now I crave living away from the grid. It's nice to get up with the sunrise, and be ready for bed when the sun goes down. Getting back to that natural rhythm has such a restorative effect.
I think I've mentioned this before, but it doesn't take long to desensitize oneself to the plight of your fellow human beings when living in a big city. You get accustomed to walking over people who you don't really know if they're dead or alive. Living in the country is a different story. You see someone who might be in need, you immediately investigate. A piece of garbage takes on the appearance of a neon sign in the country, but in the big cities, garbage is so ubiquitous it goes almost completely unnoticed. It looks like it belongs there.
I left California almost ten years ago, and back then I was beginning to see people defecating in public whenever I went into major metropolitan areas. It wasn't as bad as it is now, but it was enough of a nuisance that it made me want to leave, and never go back. The stories I hear from people who still live there make me wonder why I stayed as long as I did. It is also prompting me to look around my new surroundings. I can see that the writing is on the wall here as well. It's only a matter of time before it will be just as bad here as out there.