Do you remember erstwhile Plymouth?

     The fences; those erect segments of logs with the peg-holes to fit the two connecting longer logs in between them.  These were the boundaries between our yard and the neighbors on Rocky Hill Road.  We lived sandwiched in between Rocky Hill Road and the dead-end street, Gate Road.
     What was at the end of Gate Road was far from 'dead', however.  It was the neighborhood kids' portal to an alternate universe; the ocean.
     The perspective of a young boy growing up in this idyllic little embassy in New England was rife with naivety.  Never in my wildest nightmares would I have imagined that the portal I took for granted to access (something which most certainly shouldn't be denied) would be blocked off by some rapacious developer, who would steal that access to build a condo complex, the money from which he would surely allocate a portion to own his own private residence on some part of the beach.
     Since my childhood stomping grounds were utterly destroyed by Brobdingnagian, cacophonous, yellow beasts which tore up my memories and replaced them with exploitative cash-cows, Plymouth has been leveled by esurient, heartless pigs who have turned a once beautiful region into some kind of devastated 'grazing meadows'...for cash-cows.
     I'm not against development per se, just over-development.  I'm against heartless development.  I'm for a greater quality of life, and against greedy thugs who just take because they can. I'm for the preservation of natural beauty and animals.  I don't see a parcel of woods and describe it as a "useless, tick-infested mess."  I see instead what it was when it was supported by deep forest, and have the wisdom to know that if it doesn't look as beautiful as it once did, it's only because the money-grubbing pigs have annihilated its surrounding ecosystem. 
     You know who the biggest so-called "NIMBYS" are?  The developers themselves.  They get rich, and provide themselves and their families with a well-insulated embassy somewhere where they won't ever have to worry about someone (like them) encroaching on it.  The hypocrisy has me more than just a little 'incensed.'
     And what's the typical response when those people read a blog-posting like this?  "Who's this guy?"  The speculation is that I'm some sandal-wearing, tree-hugging, Prius-driving, PBS-donating member of some fringe group like 'Occupy Wall St.'  But I am nothing of the sort.
I am actually a hardcore, right-wing, Fox News Watching, Andrew Breitbart-admiring, Joe-average-car driving, free-market capitalist and card-carrying member of the Tea Party.  So yes, you bet I am at odds with many like-minded people who otherwise consider me a worthy ally and friend.
     You see, I am for smart development.  Believe it or not, I am FOR the Keystone pipeline.  I am very much against any and all nuclear energy, particularly the plant in Plymouth.  The cancer cluster -- including my own mother, who is now with Jesus -- in my neighborhood growing up was enough to convince me that the peril of nuclear energy is not at all worth the benefits.
     But what really 'chaps my ass' (if you will) is the highly gratuitous taking of trees.  For God's sake, Route 80 on the Plympton Rd, not far from where I live, looks like a nuclear bomb hit it!  After there were so many trees taken down in my neighborhood just before the 'Blizzard of 2013', my neighborhood looked like 'Treemageddon'.  Trees need each other for support!  You thin them out too much and they're highly susceptible to falling down in a storm!  Why is this too difficult for people to figure out?
     Think for a minute about what has happened this year.  We had dozens of historic wildfires out West.  When I saw the incendiary onslaught every day on the news, I said to my wife, "What will follow this is record-high temperatures this summer which they will blame on global warming."  What would make me say that?
     Trees regulate the planet's temperature like nothing else on earth.  They EAT carbon dioxide, and 'poop out' (if you will) breathable OXYGEN.  They absorb humidity like a sponge.  We take thousands of trees down every day in this country, twenty-four hours a-day.  THAT is what is having an impact on our climate -- not our pollution.  The impact of our pollution is directly commensurate with our taking of trees!  You can't increase pollution while simultaneously DEcreasing the # of trees to such a drastic degree!  Is anybody HOME??
     Getting back to Plymouth, I remember an historic, beautiful community which once had enough heart to value its natural beauty.  Now, it seems as though it's following the rest of the world straight to Hell.  The Pilgrims came here to worship God, but in recent years, Plymouth has a new God and the lack of values which accompany the worship of it: m-o-n-e-y.
     We talk a good talk, don't we?  We want 'green energy', and yet feet sure are swift in running to the planning board meetings to decry the prospects of a "noisy" windmill.  We cry out for more cell-towers with abandon, but all of a sudden we develop quite a concern for birds if a windmill might go up anywhere near us.
     I'm not the staunchest advocate of wind energy myself, but I just try not to be a hypocrite about it.  I am for a comprehensive green-energy plan which starts with doing things like taking down that abandoned Sam's Club building at Colony Place, and instead of putting up yet ANOTHER damned car dealership (which we don't want or need) PLANT SOME TREES!  Why must we always look for the next meadow for cash-cows?  Because we're just plain stupid, as a people, that's why.
     I hope I haven't overwhelmed you too much with the things I've said here.  I realize it's quite a heavy introduction to my blog.  But in case you can't tell, I am quite disenfranchised with the way things are, and feel a bit powerless down here in my very sorry financial state. 
     The bottom line is that I really love Plymouth in the historical sense...LOVE it.  I live in Plympton now, but I still work and play in Plymouth.  As I write this, I am keeping a close eye on the clock as I have to go there very shortly.  If you love Plymouth as much as I do, perhaps you share or at least can sympathize with my frustrations.  Have a great day or night, depending on when you're reading this.