Growth and decay

British traveller and author Geoffrey Moorhouse had this to say* about urban decay.

A city does not suddenly break down. ...the ultimate civic disaster is clearly preceded by a long and gradual process of neglect and decay which undermines the city’s foundations to a point at which a very small push will send the whole structure tumbling into ruins.

This process can take just as long as the process of a city’s grow to maturity and supremacy. The two can even be seen passing the years in tandem, one of the city’s parts thriving and becoming grand while the other becomes increasingly wasted and diseased.

Walt believes the same process or cycle of growth and decay, rise and fall, occurs in nations. Question to ponder: Where, in the cycle, is America today?

* in Calcutta: the City Revealed. Penguin, London, 1974.