Cities are an interesting phenomenon in that human characteristics, like personality, character and reputation can be attributed to them. Paris could be described as at once charming, snobby, magical and gritty. The city where I live, Grenoble, has a reputation of being polluted, crime-ridden, beautiful and liberal. Sometimes what we think we know about a city is replaced by what we experience after having lived there for a while. I know a number of people who traded the easier pace and natural beauty of this alpine capital for the seduction and stereotypical allure of “living the dream” in Paris. However, the true character of the city, according to their now informed opinion, didn’t live up to the reputation.
Don’t get me wrong. Paris is indeed a wonderful city - to visit. But residing there is another thing altogether. High cost of living and astronomical rent turn many infatuated and aspiring Paris residents into disillusioned suburb dwellers. They went to the City of Lights thinking it would be a life of quaint coffee shops and quiet strolls in the Luxembourg gardens. Instead, reality turned out to be hours upon hours spent among silent, sober and crowded metro cars each day, commuting from one of the affordable, immigrant-filled outlying suburbs to a job of some sorts in a very gray and often cold metropolis. Paris gets on average only 1662 hours of sunshine per year. That means it is sunny only 40% of sunlight hours.
So you never know what you might get out of living in a city until you start living there long enough to allow the veneer to wear off. When it came to France’s presidential elections last week, no one was really sure what the results would reveal lying in the underbelly of the world’s number one tourist destination. What we thought we knew about Grenoble’s character would be proven by a very crucial and divisive political vote. Many people I think, held their breath, as the possibility of a misjudgment would only be revealed by that evening’s vote tally, and depending on the result, possibly exposed as well by the illuminating glow of hundreds of cars being set on fire in angry protest throughout many of the city’s troubled neighborhoods.
As it turns out, Grenoble’s longstanding reputation for solidarity with immigrants and foreigners once again shone through. A whopping 83 percent of Grenoble’s residents voted yes for Emmanuel Macron and a resounding no to the xenophobic and fascist National Front party echoed throughout the surrounding verdant hills and craggy mountains.
Grenoble’s reputation remained intact. A city that has in its history been progressive, tolerant and welcoming to Protestants, Jews, and a host of other immigrants, once again rose to the occasion and defeated hatred and fear. We thought we knew what we were getting when we moved here and entered into this relationship with Grenoble. And she didn’t let us down. She is at her core a place of refuge and reconciliation. And that is what we as His people, are all about in this crucial hour of suspicion, hate-mongering and tribalism that is polluting our world.
Thanks for not letting us down, Grenoble. I talk to you as if you have a personality. And as it turns out, you do. And a pretty dependable one at that.
