It's hard being an old soul in a new world

Indeed, change is everywhere, only except in politics. Seriously though, the same thing is happening here in my small town. The changes are slow but I am feeling it nonetheless. The people and family I used to know are moving away and new ones come in, new houses being built, and vacant lots that use to be my playground with many other kids back in the days are now being occupied. I guess we can just hope for the best and cherish old memories while making new good ones.

I guess we can't stop them from modernizing our places. We should just accept the fact that there's no permanent in this life except change. Let's just wish that they won't destroy much our environment. I want a lot of trees so that the air will still be clean and not so polluted.

Well, there is a different way of looking at it. I love small towns. And my dad grew up in a tiny town. But instead of growing and progressing like the one you are talking about, his town eventually withered up. First, the post office closed. Then the only school closed. Pretty much everyone who grew up there in my dad's generation moved. He can tell me all about how it used to be, but all I see now is trees and grass where buildings used to be. Now his town is a cemetery (which I find beautiful and peaceful), a tiny church, and about 15 houses of elderly people. So if we had to choose between the two...

I am somewhat older than you are. I can honestly say that when I graduated from high school, the house and neighborhood I now live in didn't exist. There are apartment complexes where I used to ride horses. Austin used to be a government/university town, now its a major city with high tech companies. Dell has its headquarters here. Texas Instruments, IBM, Motorola and many other tech companies have been, or at least WERE, here since the 1960's. It is now the 13th largest city in the U.S. It is larger than Houston was when we moved to Texas. You want things to go back to the way they were, well, hun, there are advantages to big cities just as there are to small towns. But there are really only one thing that's always going to happen, and that is change. You may not like it, I can't say I like all the changes in my life/city, but I can't stop change. And neither can any one person. If you don't accept it, it will run you over like a freight train.

It is a sad fact of life that nothing remains the same. Change creeps into everythng and sometimes this is a good thing because if you are going through a hard time then you know that things will change one day as nothing remains the same. A few years ago in the U.K I went to the city where I was brought up and although is city it is by the sea with plaenty of open spaces. Yes, I could see all of the good things tat had happened but oh, the developments were now where there used to be parks and fields. I too felt sad. I recognise how you are feeling and I am sorry that you are upset - I just hope that the rest of the area is not developed in an ugly way.

Hi amber. Forgive me for what I am going to write. Because from your post I got this feeling that you are being a little selfish. Just because you want to get that feel similar to one you used to get back in your childhood days, you should not say that things like hospital and schools are unnecessary. May be online classes are gaining trend but they are in no way superior to the traditional system. And about hospitals. Do you really think something as hospital can be useless. Are you sure that if you asked people from your village, none of them would have supported the initiative. I feel that you should be happy about the people of your country as they can also enjoy the facilities that you are getting in the city. Anyways have a nice day ... =SuperShames=

Going along the line of your title, I hope you would realize that while there's nothing wrong being old soulful but it would still need to stay relevant and up to date with the new world. Like it or not the world is changing and at an alarming speed too. Preserving a countryside is quite a consideration starting with the inevitable extensive demand and use of land space for all sorts of agricultural activities which I am sure is the only way the occupied space could be best optimized and sustained. On this issue, I am sure you would realize that an equally extensive demand will be required for manpower and looking around today, you would have to consider the amount of young adults willing to enter into the field of agriculture. As you can see, modernization and commercialization is inevitable. Farming will need to be more scientific and distribution to be more direct to increase viability to achieve higher profits. So as you can see, change is unavoidable and carries a chain effect where improvements will need to be looked into in other areas especially with the current infrastructures like roads, schools, transportation and hospital to remain relevant for today's young adults. For without them, there would be no proper maintenance and most importantly usage for the occupied land. As such, the hospital that you mentioned, needs to upgrade because illnesses are becoming more complex and treatments equally demanding. Hence, facilities will need to be well equipped and vital spaces required for future emergencies which may arise. While I do not oppose to the idea of home schooling but I have to cast a little doubt when some family units may not meet the adult supervision requirements. In this area, building a school is relative and unavoidable. I hope you would consider modernization or commercialization to be something similar to going into a spa establishment for your whole body treatment head to toe. If humans like you and I need pampering maintenance how much more for our natural countryside nature.

To some extent this might be progress, perhaps even forward planning. They may even be needed someday.It's a sad fact that populations expand, which fuels the need for more facilities. Personally I think that we are already overpopulated. It's equally likely that some politician initiated the new builds to enhance his or her career, as both are vote winners, rather than improving what already existed...

I think many people prefer to lead simple lives today but there are also people who fiddle with technology and learn to love it. It doesn’t mean that they don't crave simplicity in any form. Like you, like the simple life and I only allow a bit of technology. I don't want to be an obsessed person who cannot know what life is without a tech gadget. I guess some people in your town think that an additional school or hospital is needed. Perhaps, they have grown in population and they need to accommodate more people. But it doesn't mean that improvements cannot be made with infrastructure already there. Improvement isn't always addition, or with quantity, it's also begs for quality.