Infrastructure and the Deterioration of a Society

    The modern American mall was a staple in this nation. They used to be packed and lively. I have been to a variety of malls across this nation both dead and alive. The mall here that I have photographed is in Tysons Corner. It's a mall only filled to the brim with luxury goods and designer clothing. There is no culture besides that of luxury and that is all that keeps it alive. Meanwhile at other malls such as that of Apple blossom mall in Winchester or the Silverdale mall in Silverdale Washington they are practically dead and have more variety but only in more niche stores which keep it up and running. The only thing that keeps malls open are the small demands that they provide. It's on a lifeline. This lifeline is very much reflected in the infrastructure and society of America, and it shows it deterioration. From what I have observed

 The Deterioration of America

    With America it seems that it has outstretched itself as many of the anti-federalist warned and saw would happen. It's not the issue of land mass and management. It's the matter of an expanded bureaucracy. With this bureaucracy has come so much red tape that you need a permit for a fireplace and wish to rid the nation of gas stoves. This is absurd. The developers have conceived such a way in development that they can charge a fortune for something so cheaply made. It's as if what has been made is not the quality of what it is charged for. I'd like to use my hometown of Gig Harbor for example. You can go to Zillow as of publishing and find a house that's address is 4978 Empress Street that is listed as a "5" bedroom home and only has ~4000 sq ft. of land for the absurd price of $877k that is basically brand new. on Zillow it says that it is ~2.5k sq ft that is not big. If you thought a 5-bedroom house had large reasonable rooms, it does not. In 2000 sq feet that is a cramped house with small rooms. That house was built shortly after I moved away from Gig Harbor to Sequim. When I was born in Gig Harbor the house that I was born in that foreclosed due to the 2008 Great Recession and a divorce was a 3-bedroom home was roughly $200k when my parents mortgaged it and had a much more spacious lot. Even adjusted for inflation it what it cost then would be more affordable and worth it for these "newer" developments. It also makes it unaffordable for locals who wish to stay in where they were born. It's honestly considered a relatively new thing for people to leave the vicinity of their hometown with the exception of those seeking wealth in the past. Due to the influx of rich transplants, it causes prices to rise thus raising the prices for everyone. Developers are wise and see nothing but the profit for themselves they no longer think that they are building homes for families and designing them intentionally. They don't give ample space away from neighbors they only wish to build cheaply to bypass all red tape in order to extort the populace and erase culture and heritage of a place simply for their own fortune. 

All Roads Lead to Deterioration

    In part of a societies decay it's reflected by its roads the physical infrastructure. What can be observed by the naked eye in the day to day life. When a bureaucracy wishes to pocket its money, it always chooses to cut corners. This evident in almost all aspects of life. With technology think back to the windows aero era where it was pleasing to the eye and not so corporate. Now it is bland and shallow just like the houses being built. They choose to make the roads as small as possible but wide enough to where it might just work with these developments. I should know the very house I shared I probably drove past it when I was learning how to drive. Moving south of Washington State you will find California the land of corrupt bureaucracy they have spent millions on a hyperloop railway that has yet to be built and just simply driving there you will literally feel each road deteriorated never redone with cracks and potholes galore. To put it simply America has gotten to the point of overextending its bureaucracy that it has become corrupt and lead to the physical deterioration of basic roads. When the Roman Empire started to collapse its infrastructure and building began to deteriorate too and stagnate due to lack of funding and being ravaged by war. America is not ravaged by military campaigns or war. It is ravaged by burreacracy that pockets money for needless things and cuts the bottom of the governmental bureaucracy that is needed to connect the people to the government. For example, foresters, first responders, and road workers. When road work is done now it takes forever or it is constant and sees no conclusion. I believe I5 is the perfect example of this especially when driving north from Tacoma. 

The Solution

    Design everything intentionally. If all things are designed intentionally to serve a purpose and to bring the human condition to a higher level then all these issues would be resolved. Treat man as a free man not like cattle shoved into absurd developments that are cramps and hollow of any soul. Let the roads of America be beutiful and clean and clear. Build them to last. Build all things as if they were timeless.

My next Work

 My next major work

    So apart from my video series, To Love Perfectly, Poetry and Sayings, I am starting work on another book. It will have some debauchery to say the least. But I'm not doing it for the sake of being some delinquent. I'm writing a Historical-Fiction Tragedy about my hometown of Gig Harbor and I have it set from the year 2000-2018. I was really fond of Hamlet when I first read it and I really wanted to write a Tragedy. A good one. So I've decided to write a story about the fall of Gig Harbor if you will and I do it through social commentary and tragedy. It's kind of like the Brother's Karamazov but if it was written about Croation Catholics and a bunch of debauchery showing the decline a social deuteriation of the family and society from 2000-2018. I also wanted to showcase gang violence because I don't think that's been done before in a novel especially if there is any novel that takes place in Gig Harbor. I also use this gang to show a distortion of Fraternity and brotherhood and defending each other. Kind of like a mix of the mafia and yakuza but in Washington State. They aren't the main "villains" if you will but they play an essential part. I'm writing this book to show the flaws of modernity, how it happened, how we can face it and how goodness dies.

Why I chose the time frame for the setting

    I decided to choose 2000-2018 mainly because I was born in GIg Harbor in 2006 and then I left it in 2011 and so I figured it'd be easier to showcase youth in Gig Harbor not from the perspective of a toddler but rather children and the entanglement of parents and adults. Also, it was a time where Gig Harbor turned drastically away from religion. There's been some revival with an influx at Saint Nicholas (my home parish where I've received 3 of my sacraments) I have it end in May of 2018 because that would be 4 months before I returned back to Gig Harbor to see what it is now. From 2000-2018 Gig Harbor Changed a lot. It was a devout and quite society that has expanded and deteriorated in its culture and heritage. It no longer honors it's quaint uniqueness and it persists in letting itself be abused by developers.

Purpose of Characters 

    Compared to my last work To Love Perfectly I've decided to have more characters that are more cartoonish in personality if you will. Not because this work isn't serious but to kind of ease the reader from the weight of the debauchery that happens. There's affairs, death, all sorts of evil and vile things. But I'm not writing some erotica. I'm writing a book that shows how these effects the atmosphere of the people that are put into it and choose not to do anything about it. I also decide to make the main charachter 2-dimensional on purpose. He's meant to represent all goodness and virtue he's not meant to change. He suffers because of what goes on around him but he is avid and does not change his beliefs for his beliefs he holds steadfast to.

My Plan

    I'm hoping to make this work more big and reach a wider audience. If I make enough money from sales of To Love Perfectly or my poetry and sayings book then I'm gonna try doing some more marketing. What sucks about being a self-published author is that I'm responsible for all of my marketing. I'm basically a one man show. I don't have any publishing companies picking it up and seeking publishing companies is expensive and cost a lot of work to get rejected. I'm much rather get rejected outright than be lead on if you will. So if and hopefully when I do marketing, I use one of the Barnes and Noble resources (which cost money) or other marketing resources and get it more out there to the world (which also cost money). To Love Perfectly was my debut work and show what it means to love perfectly and to find completion. This work that I'm working on is to show how modern society is, how it deteriorated and how it has killed goodness and, in the end, how goodness can give us hope to rebuild it and protect it in such a way we elevate our souls.

New Video Series on Youtube

 

New Video Series

    So I will be continuing my regular series of John Lee The Christendom Expierence as per usual. However, I've realized that in my time hear on earth that I have experienced quite a lot of things in my life and that I have many stories to tell, (Apart from History obviously) Some people have said that I look like I am 30 or 40 and there is a good reason for this despite just being a 19-year-old college student. It's because I have been through a lot I have seen a lot so I have decided to start sharing some of my stories that have not been recorded because of the length and emotional weight they bare. I figured since I have made many mistakes in my life and been through many things that I would impart my wisdom and humor for all of you to hear. In my new video series on Youtube titled Story Time With John Lee. Where I share my many stories and adventures from my life and my experiences from my heart and soul. 

What I Have So Far

    I have recorded the footage for some episodes and I have created a list of stories to share some humorous some not so much and they cover serious topics. I really want to show that despite my shallow facade there is depth to my soul and that I can speak seriously about things even when I'm just goofing off. I haven't yet edited it and I just finished recording a video which has a few stories in it which bare a lot of weight. I don't cry or anything it just brings back memories of times where I was not mature and did not know how to handle feeling and how to order my love and pursue the right things. But there are a lot of funny stories too like the antics I would get into at high school which many of my friends know about so might as well share them with the whole world to hear.

The Selective Service System and my Conscientious Opposition to War

The Selective Service System and why I am opposed to it

    It has unfortunately come to my attention that America still has Selective Service. Now I thought this was done away with in the Vietnam war. In order to showcase why I am personally opposed to combat and being drafted I will take you through a step-by-step reason why I hold a Conscientious and Moral opposition to all war. 

The violation of the right to pursuit life, liberty and happiness

It is my right according to the founding fathers more specifically Thomas Jefferson the author of the declaration of independence that by throwing my life into combat in any war is against my individual freedom. I am no better than a slave if my freedom is violated in this way. If we as Americans are to hold to the values of the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we should not violate other sovereign nations right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If my right to live life as an American Citizen is violated by taking me to any war, then my right to life is being taken away by the very government that is supposed to protect that right.

Moral Obligation against the Military-Industrial Complex

    This statement should be pretty self-explanatory. However, it seems we live in a world where the obvious is not too obvious. For elaboration, the state of the United States in regard to foreign affairs regarding war since World War 2 has followed what is called the Truman Doctrine. Serving the interests of the politicians to seek friends in nations that do not want to be our friends. If we are to truly believe in the right of freedom and liberty of all people, then we should not need to enforce it on those that find freedom and liberty in their own interpretations rather than ours. I think Woodrow Wilsons doctrine of allowing cultural and ethnic groups to assert self-reliance and independence should be evident of this with nations such as Yugoslavia which was in fact a monarchy and system of governance Woodrow Wilson was adamantly opposed to the point that Germany had undergone a revolution in order for them to surrender to the allied powers of WW1. Therefore, I can infer that any violation of the sovereignty of another nation is the violation of their right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness that is guaranteed to all men according to natural law.

Religious Oppositions to War

    As a devout Catholic I have been taught the differences between just and unjust war. It seems that all war and military conflicts/interventions conducted by the government of The United States of America has been unjust and only a war deemed just by the Pope (as of writing this Pope Leo XIV) I am well aware the in a moral/conscientious opposition to war that includes all wars. However, there has not been a single just war in my lifetime that I have seen. All war in my lifetime that has occurred has been unjust war. Therefore, I can go in with the prepositions that I am opposed to any war. This is because, all the war I know has been unjust and considering modern history and events I do not forsee any just war happening. So with these conclusions I am opposed to all war.   

Thou shall not serve two masters

    As much as I do love this country that God has gifted me the life to live in. I do not serve it. When it comes between serving the Lord and the nation. I will always choose God above this nation. This nation did not give me life. Nor did it baptize me into his church. Why should I die for it when it wishes to throw me on the frontlines with disregard for my wellbeing. Why should I be burdened in taking arms against men and women who have families that I have never met. They never personally wronged me. I have no right to take their life unless I am defending mine. Truly am I defending the nation if I am sent overseas? Am I defending the nation or the money of the congressman? If the congressman wants war he should personally fight it. Not I a simple civilian and most of all children of God. Why should I be forced in cold blooded murder. To murder men, I never met? Men that we could be friends with? Even if they had personally wronged me in some way the Lord calls us to forgive our brothers and to turn the other cheek. My beliefs are held that war is murder on the basis you are violating the other persons right to live and therefore taking their life away.

How it guides my life

    There are many things in regards to philosophy, theology and history that guide my life this is just one of them. I use this belief in the way I conduct myself with others just as I use it to conduct myself with anyone who reads this. I respect their individual sovereignty and freedom. As a Catholic, God granted me the choice to choose his will or my own will. If my will was to serve another master that is adamantly opposed to all the things that God has taught us through His word then I would be a sinner for choosing against him. I would be condemning myself to hell if I chose anything but God. Even through the countless hardships I have faced in my life God has been there. The government of The United States of America will never be my god. My God gave his only Son born of our Lady the Blessed Virgin Mother Mary to die for us on a cross shedding all of his blood for us so that we might be forgiven of our countless sins and offenses against him. I do not wish to add to these burdens in means of active combat or being on the frontlines. The only war I fight is God's war against evil and even then I can only do it with his help not on my own freewill. In my war I only fight with work and prayer not gunpoint and bloodshed.