How the mailbox is a symbol of change

Growing up, a block away from my house on the corner was a USPS mailbox. Waiting for the bus, on that same corner, I leaned up against that mailbox many days waiting for the bus to pick me up. Today that mailbox is gone. The reasons why the mailbox is gone really shows how much the world has changed in the last 20 years. You might think the first thing that would jump into my mind would be email, but for some reason the first thing that jumped in my mind was terrorism. Today, We are constantly reminded that unattended packages are threats. For security reasons, after the Unabomber incidents, USPS removed thousands of mailboxes making it more difficult for people to send mail. In addition, USPS stopped allowing packages over 13 ounces unless you delivered it in person to a postal worker. For me these changes, specifically when mailboxes started disappearing, are really a subtle but observable sign of when the world changed. The world was now truly connected. The innocence felt in some quiet neighborhoods was now compromised. Think about it, the acts of terrorists half a world away had an impact that made it all the way to my bus stop. Every time I see one of the few USPS mailboxes I think back to times that were just simpler and in some strange way that is why the mailbox is a symbol of change for me.