Urban and rural America are locked in an ugly conflict threatening our government and way of life. I live in the middle, a lifelong city boy more comfortable in the country than ever.

I love cities, and I love the country. It’s my home now. I’m sorry to see the two cultures so much at odds.

Today was a reminder a restaurant sign – of why I love the country and am more at ease here than ever in the dozen cities I have lived in.

I am an urbanite through and through, but the government has changed me, mainly for the better.

It is not a paradise there; there is much poverty and disappointment. City people are often seen as arrogant and dismissive. The divisions are wide and largely ignored by the government and our most powerful politicians.

One reason I like it is that we are not lawsuit crazy.

There are very few lawyers and people with the money to sue others. Cities are different. They are crammed with lawyers dying to sue people. and people dying to sue other people.

People here are reluctant to sue their neighbors unless a dire problem is severe and can’t be resolved. Even that, it is rare.

In the city, lawyers are everywhere, working with aggrieved citizens who sue McDonald’s when the coffee is hot or when an employee is nasty, or when someone steps on a manhole cover. Cities pay tens of millions of dollars out to people suing the police and city agencies for legitimate reasons, and some that don’t always seem as legitimate.

Perhaps these payments will force the police to do better.

But money can infect any process, and lawyers are making a lot of money.

Lawyers are everywhere, polished in media handling and police procedures.

I took Maria to lunch today to celebrate her excellent work and the fiber art she has been selling and mark the coming of Christmas. It feels like every fabric she touches turns into beauty and gold.

We love this restaurant; the food is good, and the prices are low.

As we left, I was intrigued to see this sign (above) at the entrance. It is why I like being here; the country suits me.

“Only in the country would we see this sign,” I said to Maria, “in New York City, the lawyers would be all over them to get rid of the heater or put it  up on the ceiling.”

For all their grievances and detachment about the “elitists” in the city, country people haven’t succumbed to the epidemic money-grubbing of the legal profession, which puts avoiding legal trouble and making money way ahead of what’s good for a community.

Lawsuits seem to me to have replaced communications between one person or another. Lawyers are usually not about solving problems, but making problems pay.

It was a sad day when states permitted lawyers to advertise; many lawyers thought this could get them a lot of money. They were right. The ads make lawsuits seem easy, and they seem to be.

For most of the country’s history, it was illegal for lawyers to round up business; they were considered too professional. The result is that the government is lawsuit-mad. Honor and truth do not seem to matter much to some people. They do to me.

Here, it’s not so bad. I think the sign about jackets tells the story beautifully. Just keep your jackets away from the heater.

In New York City, Boston, Dallas, or any of the places I work, the thought of a heating unit setting fire to a jacket would have sent the lawyers screaming.

In the country, the sign means to keep one’s jacket away from the heater, with no drama, threats, or lawyers involved. There is no need to sue anybody; just read the sign.

Up here, we are generally considered to be able to care for ourselves and know that a heater is not a great place to get too close to if you’re wearing a jacket. Do we need lawyers to tell us that? I don’t.

The country is lawsuit crazy. Unregulated lawyers seem out of control to me. In the cities, it’s no good to ask people politely to do something; one has to threaten them with lawsuits and awful consequences and sue them whenever possible.

Lawyers don’t make money when things are settled peaceably. The rush to sue has separated people and torn apart communities. People who spend hours every day online are forgetting the value of talking to people. I’m learning how to do it late in life.

I like the countryside in that respect. I’m a big boy and take responsibility for keeping my clothes away from heaters; I don’t need a lawyer in the middle of the process. If anyone needs to be sued, politicians and corporate executives put money and politics ahead of justice and honor.

Lawyers have made almost any public business in America tremble and scramble to avoid controversy or threat, legitimate or not. The country is lawsuit-sick, which has spread to affect even the most minor transactions.

. In life, mistakes happen, and I gather many corporations elect to pay off the aggrieved; it’s too expensive to go to trial. That system seems broken, also.

In the country, kids still walk to school.

They get to run free and play outside and know nature and animals. Everybody knows everyone in the country, and families stay close to one another. There’s only one active lawyer in town, and he rarely talks to people.

This sign says a lot, and I hope it never comes down.