Alas, And Yet...

            There’s a particularly nasty stretch of road I drive almost everyday that puts into perspective what lack of imagination and complete disregard commercial man has for his environment and certainly the times he lives in. This 5 mile excursion is hardly one, but more like a journey to hell and back with some painful root canal thrown in for good measure just to make sure you know that any redemption for man’s abdication of his reason to be is not on the truck scheduled for delivery.

            Low slung, corrugated, metal buildings, strip malls, bail bondsmen, muffler shops, fast food emporiums and an endless run of telephone poles and jury-rigged power lines dot this corridor. Continuously shaking my head back and forth everyday as I drive is the only way I can make sure that I will never allow my self to accept this dearth of creativity as normal…which it is not.

            This bust out of a boulevard is a synecdoche representing all that is wrong with the world at the surface and to not bring it to justice is tantamount to permitting NAMBLA the North American Man Boy Love Association manifest destiny. Perhaps not as grave as that since these pederasts are not that ambitious otherwise there'd be CAMBLA in Central America and SAMBLA in South America, but you get the point.

            This result of such low derivation is not limited to my particular slice of shit, but is a virus that stretches from coast to coast. Travel to Anytown, USA and you will be greeted by the same low grade symptoms, bad architecture, whored out commercial grabs, rickety infrastructure, poor traffic flow and no one seems care. The only thing municipalities care about is the tax base they receive from these poorly designed projects, monies that keeps their particular turd afloat for a few more decades.

            The first ring of suburban expansion 60 years ago is now a ghetto. In some megalopolis’ (LA/ San Diego, New York City/Washington DC, Atlanta) suburban enclaves are out to the 5^th ring of expansion since WW2 with commuters willing to drive up to 2 hours each way to escape the encroaching decrepitude of the last poorly designed ring.

            The mind reels when thinking about how much bullshit the average suburban grunt is willing to negotiate on a daily basis. There is virtually no ease of movement or convenience in most large cosmopolitan cities. Environmental considerations are given short shrift or in some cases no shrift at all. New developments are designed strictly for commerce, humans are only considered in the equation on a cursory level. It is depressing beyond words that the sane response is to become inured to it. Pretend it doesn’t exist. Keep your eyes on the road where they should be. It is not your job to wonder. Leave that to the ivy covered eggheads wherever they do their advanced figurin’.

            What’s the alternative? Is there a better way to live even in this mess? Most would say that it is what it is and you can’t fight these giant Leviathans. They have the money and influence to do what ever they’d like and if Wal-mart is what they like Wal-mart is what you get. This is exactly what corporate America counts on the customer giving up on earth for a chance at the grand prize an all expenses paid trip to heaven.

            Our expectations are so low. Casinos, stadiums, convention centers, lifestyle villages, Mega-churches while public libraries are desperate to keep their doors open. If this is the best we can do, what is the endgame?

            Maybe the endgame is already upon us and heaven for eternity is the grand prize while mortal life is merely a speed bump on the way.

Alas, and yet...