Now hold on, this is not a post about how the person in the cube next to me stinks or how the copy machine constantly jams paper…no this post is about the almighty dollar crushing our souls.

Now let me make things clear. I respect the need for our economy to grow and I understand that this means that resources have to be used or converted to support new growth, but that being said it is disgusting to see what is happening.

You see I am currently temping at a company that processes inspection reports from all over the nation. My job (amongst other things) is to gussy up or downplay reports depending on what the inspectors said in the field. One particular section deals with growth and development within the area being inspected. The inspiration of this post came from what one inspector wrote in their report:

The area is former farm land that’s been developed in the past 10 years. The newer properties are all in very good or excellent condition, and consist of many of the nationally known retail chain stores.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a major problem for our nation.

Suburban sprawl and unchecked growth in the name of “progress” can be attributed to so many problems our modern society faces: pollution spewing out of large vehicles necessary to transport goods from the mini-mall that was a former wetland area; manicured lawns depleting artificial reservoirs and putting unnatural fertilizers into a depleting watershed; people considering Wal-Mart a town square, bazaar, and job; neighbors who are more likely to talk to each other by chance in a chat room than by actually walking over and speaking to each other; a nation that cares about being unique-just like everyone else; a loss of what it means to be alive.

Perhaps people need to be more aware of the world around them and less about the world within them. Know what your impact is and give a damn, think about what you can do and call up a law-maker…demand change. And if you like the way things are going, well then sit back and watch your nation fall apart.

I am not saying that we should stop all development, all I am saying is that perhaps we should think about the costs being something more than just what comes out of our pocket; frankly it is a tragedy when we don’t think of things this way.

And yes, I see the hypocrisy of typing this in a cube located in a nondescript building somewhere in Anytown, U.S.A.