On the future of society

I have always had a fascination with fire. I have always held an appreciation for just how easily it can level a playing field and remove imperfections from something. Not to say that I would go around lighting other people aflame but I would and frequently do light things such as paper on fire. I find that there is something marvelous about the fact that if you have a perfectly good, crisp, clean piece of paper and one that is wrinkled and dirty and ripped that lighting them both on fire will essentially put them back on the same playing field. Both of them will be broken down into simple carbon atoms and drift away and the imperfections will forever be gone. And you can apply it to anything, anything at all. You can burn old toys, you could even burn down a forest if you so saw fit (although once again that is not something I would ever find myself doing). But one thing I could never burn down is a building or town.

I love ghost towns and abandoned buildings. If there is anything history has taught us it's that almost every great society eventually ends up as a series of ruins and ghost towns. I love movies such as the 28 x Later titles, or I am Legend where you see these great majestic cities abandoned and left to be reclaimed by nature. There is something beautiful about it. I think that nature on it's own retaking these towns and buildings is just something absolutely beautiful to behold. But it really bothers me when a demolition crew is sent in to speed up the process such as is the case with Centralia and you are left with but a few foundations and a building here or there but nothing all that spectacular anymore.

Picture related: It's us in Centralia

And so it was today I was watching the Discovery Channel or something at my parents house and there happened to be a ghost chasing series on doing a story on an old state hospital / asylum named Pennhurst. Now while I fully believe that any of these ghost hunters are just people bullshitting the location that this episode took place in fascinated me. And so I did some research on the matter, quite intent on taking a trip down there once the semester lets out in a couple of weeks. I found myself finding the typical warnings of no-trespassing, guarded by the police/military, blah blah blah. No real issue as unless you are up to shenanigans officals rarely interfere with urban explorers. And then I found this. Some company is planning on taking control of the compound and opening it up as a haunted house. It outrages me. I don't know where I think I get the right to get angry over something like this but I find it quite frankly to be insulting. Insulting to an aspect of American heritage, and infuriating as a result of the fact that they are essentially stealing something away from society and marketing it as something to sell. I plan on visiting the place before the takeover is finished, but who knows how I will be greeted and just what they may or may not have done to the place yet. And as other people happen upon the story of Pennhurst they will find themselves with nothing but pictures to look at and... blah

I suppose it all circles back to the idea of where do we have the right to claim any piece of land as our own. The idea of these country borders and people owning the land is ridiculous in my opinion. Countries even fight over just who controls what areas of Antartica as if there is any real advantage to having a claim down there. It's stupid, pointless, and limits society as a whole. Oh well, hopefully when I make my way down to Pennhurst in a few weeks time I'm not completly disappointed.

An angered Travy