Generation Y: Children of Ozymandias
Most of this blog’s readers will be familiar with the old Shelley poem.
I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Now, in Current Year, members of Generation Y find themselves the dispossessed children of a toppled Ozymandias figure.
Does that claim sound grandiose? Sure, but it will make more sense if I show you what I mean.
Here is a series of before and after photos screen capped from Google Maps street view in a particular American town:
It’s true what they say: You always can tell.
OK, this one was no great loss. But still …
That one hit extra hard for some reason. It’s kind of absurd how much beauty, banal as it may have been, was struck from the world in one go like that.
FYI, it wasn’t just the movie theater; there used to be an arcade in that complex, too.
At least they saved the Chuck E. Cheese.
Who am I kidding? Those places suck now.
Looking at these photos, isn’t it weird how many once-thriving Third Places have been closed down … specifically places that once catered to children?
Related: After the Mall: Can We Build a New Third Place?
Never forget: The statue was knocked down on purpose by people who hate us.
And while we can’t have the past back, we just might be able to build a future worth handing on to our kids.
For action-adventure that defies genre labels to bring you Gundam as reimagined by Tom Clancy, read my military SF epic Combat Frame XSeed!
Brian Niemeier is a best-selling novelist, editor, and Dragon Award winner with over a decade in newpub. For direct, in-person writing and editing insights, join his Patreon.