Developing A Thicker Skin

City folk are tough. I've seen a man walk across State Street in the middle of rush hour traffic, somehow effortlessly dodging cars without so much as a wince. I saw a woman miss her bus, run after it punching the sides and actually convince the driver to stop mid route so that she could board. I witnessed at least fifty people waiting in line for a bar to open the day the Bears played Green Bay in sub zero weather, some of them with nothing but blue and orange paint as shirts (though that may be bordering more towards stupidity). And I've seen a man fall to the ground in pain after a young woman punched him in the face for supposedly trying to steal her purse. People just seem to be a bit on the badass side.

It's been even more apparent over the winter months, just how tough Chicagoans can be. The buses don't stop when there's a massive snowfall, people don't just stay in when the temperatures drop to unfathomable levels, many women still sport their fashionable stiletto boots even when the sidewalks are riddled with ice and I've yet to see the streets completely barren. Except for last week, which will surely be the known as the infamous blizzard of 2011. That's the only time I've seen the city lose its toughness and it was only for a couple days at the most.

It's crazy, the things I've seen the city goers do and it's admirable and it's rubbing off on me. Thank goodness, because around here you've got to grow a thicker skin.
I'm not quite as fearless and walking when the little man isn't lit up, even if there are several people crossing, I wait, but I have developed bits of city dweller attitude. If the second 'excuse me' doesn't cause a reaction, then I feel no guilt in squeezing my way through on the buses or the trains and it doesn't phase me anymore when cab drivers come close to hitting me as they speed through red lights. Because around here, to become a Chicagoan, you've got to be tough.