Filial Piety Part Two

The shopping mall featured on the front page of this blog was once a vital feature of my parents' lives. The day it closed was a sad one for them.

It meant that they no longer had access to certain basic items within a short distance.

That ground level absence of civilization is worthy of notice.

I'll put it differently. I was away for many years, and when I returned I found that my parents' living conditions had gotten worse. Not that they were now destitute, but that their access to basic necessities had been made more difficult. Their life had become, in some degree, less comfortable than it had been when they were young--and that is cruel because an older person is automatically weaker than an older person.

Simply put, that's not what we were taught in school. That's not what the USA advertises itself to be. It's not supposed to be a place where things get worse.

There are fancy things to say here about automobiles and shopping malls--potentially sophistic things. But the most basic fact is the diminution of living standards.

A case where hard work and effort did not pay. Quite apart from the hypocrisy, this change is, in itself, a shameful commentary on the society, the system of organization, and the badness of the people who run this country.