A couple adjectives...& a desire to shut up

I've been accused of trying to flame a New York-Chicago rivalry. While never my intention, I do understand what contributions to such a battle I bring to the table. Some how, some where, I have come up with a resolution of how I see this whole Chgo-NYC thing in my mind. I want to share it with you and then...hopefully shut up. My desire is just to get my ideas down on paper...er...cyberspace and see if other Chicagoans have any idea what I am talking about. My thoughts have little to do with one city being better than the other, but how their attributes differ. Bear with me (or if you'd rather, please ignore what's ahead) and hopefully this will do the trick and finalize the way I compare and contrast the two cities....and end the whole damned thing. Keep in mind this is all opinion. HERE IT IS: I see New York as being the ultimate city and Chicago as being the ideal city. New York is the ultimate because it has the most, is most awe inspiring, and is predicated like no other city on its relative position to American and global cities. New York, when looked at in terms of attributes, has no peer; however, often these attributes seem to go to the city itself and do little to relate how they affect individuals. New York has a WOW factor no city can match. It may be easier to stand in awe of New York than it is of any other city. No city has more ability to overwhelm, nor could any city throw out the statistics that NYC can. How does Chicago differ? Chicago has little desire to be the ultimate city. Chicagoans may be blown away by the sheer density of Manhattan, but take a perverse pride that our density is far lower. Chicago is more the ideal city. OK, let's get this one out of the way first: we're not ideal. We're loaded with problems, like any other US or global city. However, if you were going to start from scratch and develop an American city that comes closest to what is ideal, my guess is you'd come up with Chicago, more so than New York or others. Why? Chicago is about putting everything into a major city that you could possibly want to enjoy urbanity, but to do so in a environment that is friendly and beautiful. Chicago is more about what it has that allows those in it to enjoy the city than New York....which tends to be more about New York than how people enjoy New York. In some sense, Chicago is about not comparing to other cities because we're happy with how our city worked out.>