Should we modernize the town?

I'm old fashioned, what's the point in modernizing what works well?
Do we need to copy-paste places too?

It has been the trend for years to modernize everything. By modernizing I do not mean installing a sewer or water pipe or replacing the electrical wiring in the house so that all equipment does not short-circuit or set fire, but the alignment of villages and city centers. It doesn't matter where you are, the shopping streets and centres look the same. The charm of every authentic village and the specific architectural style disappear.

The screaming facades of fast food restaurants, clothing chains and supermarkets dominate the streetscape. It's impersonal, unattractive and certainly not inviting. I only know most chains by name or the outside. A tasteless whole. Primark for example. With my youngest I quickly walked through it, well through it, a few meters in and out. These are not the type of stores I like and the one in France is no different than the one in Germany or the Netherlands.

Some diversity wouldn't hurt, but art, just like architecture and a country-specific culture, is becoming a rarity. What once was has to be destroyed because nothing should remind current people of a culture that once was. The town needs to be modernized just like old-fashioned people like me because those are the living memories of what life once was. A life that I long for more and more. Old facades, sitting on a chair in front of the house door, greeting passers-by and being greeted back, people cycling while singing, happy faces and helpful hands.

Even though I was born in the Netherlands, I was always treated like a foreigner and now after so many years I feel like a stranger in 'my own' country. There is not much left of the country of my youth, the only difference is that I used to be called a dirty foreigner by Dutch people and today I am called a dirty Dutchman by foreigners living in the Netherlands.

Header: Canva
Photos: taken by me
Prompt: modernize the town
21-3-2024
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