re: Am I supposed to be happy when a wooded areas is clear cut to build a dollar store?

Yeah, the last time I went to one of those dollar-store chains, I remember seeing some Halloween candy for sale, and looking over the package, noting it was made in China. This was several years back, around the time I'd heard some of these stores were selling made-in-China pet food that was tainted with some plastic or chemical substance, which was sickening and killing dogs and/or cats. Also, the customers there that day all looked like hollow-eyed meth-heads. I never went back to the store, and haven't been in one of those dollar stores since.

Quite a change from the old country-store and the adjacent feed store that had been located at that spot, where the farmers and families would be stocking up. Always stopped there to get a 12-ounce bottle of RC Cola, and chat the with the old gent that ran the place. Real nice guy. A World War 2 veteran, as I recall. Remember chatting with him about old radio shows and the big bands. He talked about attending the Hollywood Canteen during the war.

But nope, it's now all zombified meth-heads, using welfare checks to buy standardized corporate product in a rat-trap steel shed building. Progress!