what are we losing?

A few weeks ago I visited Newport, Rhode Island, where I enjoy visiting the mansions periodically. There were a few more houses I had not yet visited, so I spent the day touring three of them. One of the houses, somewhat more modest in size and decor than, say, The Breakers, neighbors a strip mall.

Our tour guide explained that the original house next to it was demolished to make the parking lot for that strip mall, and that the city had intended to demolish the still-standing home to build a CVS. Their reasoning? The CVS would be paying higher taxes than the historic home. But really, who travels to Newport to visit the CVS? Clearly, the city came to and got their priorities straight by choosing a different location for that store, but it is saddening to think that a structure with such significant historic importance could be so easily cast aside in favor of a redundant national business.

But it is not only CVS, and it is not only Newport. Residents in Turkey felt similar sentiments when their city attempted to turn their beloved community park into a shopping mall.

photo by Eda Gunay

And in Lhasa, Tibet: another shopping mall is currently being built over the oldest and most well-known part of the city, the Barkhor Market.

 

photo by Tsering Woeser

We humans are already so destructive. We don’t need more. We have everything we need. My wish is that we learn to favor new experiences and self-improvement in the form of education and physical well-being over material goods.