When Did It Happen?

I mean like (like ‘I mean’?) this stuff happens in front of you and you never notice. Are we so busy with living that we don’t notice the surroundings? Perhaps this is life and why we are not more appreciative of our little blue marble?

Sure fashion comes and goes and automobiles expanded from the practical to the extravagant, but when did we stop speaking to each other?

This morning on the screen there reads a shooting in a house where a young kid dies. Is this new? Domestic violence has been around since eternity. How many great-great grand pappy’s grabbed their squirrel rifle after a verbal bout and a round of moonshine to blow off cousin Luke’s head?

I semi-remember the buildings getting taller and the roads becoming wider and being asphalt instead of dirt. Airplanes became a nascence instead of a wonder. Police became feared. Giant barriers were built around public buildings. Churches and schools were no longer sanctuaries.

Not an “It was much better way back when…” but a realization of the current and how it has evolved.

Families. Education. Employment. Religion. Politics. Relationships.

Change is good.

Learning how to use the porcelain throne is better than changing dumpy diapers as long as the t-paper is placed the correct approved method.

Today I did my usual daily venture to the Tummy Temple to refresh but at a slower pace. The traffic patterns were not much different but the atmosphere was different. There are more street graffiti paintings indicating the infrastructure is failing. The asphalt patches are more plentiful. The once affordable houses are becoming monstrosities. The kids playing in the street are protected by green warning plastic statues for now rather than yellow tape. No more broken bottles or dogs running free due to fences or civility?

There was some point where honest talk became politically correct garble that meant nothing. At some point we withdrew from each other in fear or desperation.