It Once Had A Life

I took this picture while we were stopped at a traffic light in Indiana. The first thought I have when I see buildings like this is, what did that used to be? I try to imagine what it was like when it was brand new, perhaps on a street where horses and buggies rode by. Maybe it was the local merchantile or soap factory or feed store.

The second thought I usually have is, wouldn't that be cool to fix up and live in?? There are so many building that have great bones, lots of space and just sit, abandoned and forgotten. I think of the character in the movie Flashdance, and how she lived in an industrial building, turned into a great loft space. Or those people in Country Living magazine who turn an old firehouse into their home. The problem with a lot of these buildings is that they happen to be in depressed areas of town, in the "bad" neighborhoods, some of them clearly houses for bums and drug addicts to hang out in. Obviously, that's not the kind of neighborhood I'd like to live in.

But it's just a shame that someone doesn't see the potential of some of these downed areas and try to revive them; bring them back to life. People would rather go build somewhere else and leave these areas to deteriorate and fade into the past. Instead, they could keep part of their town alive and make it an area where others would want to live, work or shop.

I think of how we'll never be like Europe, with buildings that are centuries old, where the architecture has been preserved and celebrated. When they find our civilzation, thousands of years from now, it'll be a bunch of hollowed out Walmarts and vast, vacant parking lots strewn with shards of bargain dinnerware and pieces of clothing stamped Made In China.

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