Tuesday January 10, 2006 Not always for the best

The world is ever changing.

The world now is not what I remember of it as a child. The world my father knew when he was young is long gone. I suppose that this is the way it has always been. We adapt our surroundings to us rather than adapting to our surroundings. If a hill is in the way, we cut it down or move it. We fill the valleys and dam the rivers. We cut down the forests and farm the plains. We destroy farmland and build shopping centers. We sprawl. We fence. We reshape. We drive around in our climate controlled cars from our climate controlled homes to our climate controlled offices, never taking the time to notice the disappearing landscape about us.

My grandfather came at a time before automobiles. They walked, rode horses or took trains to get places. My father came at a time before interstates and jet travel. They had one car per family and pretty much stayed in their neighborhoods. I came at a time when kids could play in the streets because there wasn't much traffic. When snow came, the city would barricade the hills and kids would sled.

Later, when I pursued a career, I helped remold the world around us. I worked in the structural steel business and we helped cover the fields with buildings. Unfortunately, many buildings aren't built to last forever and many of the first buildings I helped build were later replaced with newer and "better" buildings. Our monuments are only temporary and hold little value in the long run.

It's nice to know that the mountains are still there and that the eagles still soar over forests of green. It isn't something you can see here in the city. Maybe that's why we keep ripping up the farmland, trying to get out to the edge of the city where there is still some natural beauty.