What price connection?

This morning I stopped to buy a coffee at a local train station. As it had not been open all that often lately, I asked the lady why. She said that "the Railway" was going to knock down her premises to build barriers. Just another bit of efficiency, and little lessening of quality of life.

Do the Railways, "they" not realize what a cold world they are helping to create? A world where nothing matters but the kind of efficiency that squeezes the last possible penny out of people regardless of human needs.

And of course the same thing is happening in social work, teaching, policing....human contact pared to the bone, processes to eliminate the "slack"...but at what cost? There may be short term gains, but what about the true, long term costs to our well being, our mental and spiritual health?

Could there be a link with the rise in stress related illness, in crime and alienation amongst teenagers, in so much of the "uncivil" society we endure these days?
We have fallen under some kind of enchantment that sees surveillance, efficiency and rationality as a new Trinity.....but heaven help us if they replace faith, hope and love......!