When I was in grade school, Miss Roah, our teacher, sat down at the piano every morning and played this song, and made us sing it: “One World, built on a firm foundation. Built on a firm foundation of peace! Let no mortal hand, stay the Master’s plan…” etc.
This was in America in the 1950’s. The war was over, we had won, and now the world would become one world, our kind of world, and people all over the world would build it together.
It would be modern, clean, chrome and glass, machine driven- all around the globe. This seemed then to be a God given certainty. And now, half a century later, it has come true, at least in the look of things.
And here it is– an office under construction. Sheetrock and tape, mud and paint, PVC pipes, aluminum framing and glass brick- universal materials in any modern building. It could be anywhere in the world.
Nicely done, this one; aesthetically pleasing. And this is the high end of world style, based on European and American models.
And so Miss Roah’s post-war dream of “One World” has come true, but not the way she wanted. It’s not a world built on a firm foundation, and it isn’t peaceful. But it is has become universal.
And on the floor of this new office, you can see a scale model of some new subdivision, with the world-wide modern look, waiting to be displayed for sale.
