I remember how it felt, in grade school, reading how the Greeks had gathered so many of the artifacts left from its Golden age and ground them up into gravel used to build roads. I remember later, reading how Europeans, moving into Egypt, had defaced so much of the Egyptian art, destroying so many beautiful things because they were pagan. The infamous fig leaf for David, the painting over so so many works of art to they would better suit the expectations of the current culture. The burning of the library at Alexandria. The melting down of Astec Gold. The destruction of so many different cultures. We humans seem to have a blind eye when it comes to appreciating not only the natural world, but so much of what we have created as a people. How easily, it seems, we forget how rich, how vibrant, is the foundation of the culture we have today. Granted, we live in the present, in the moment---but how foolish we would be to not be aware that our moment is enriched by our past. On this Memorial Day weekend we have the chance to at least pause and consider the people in our lives who have laid the foundation of our own being. Consider the richness, the beauty, the knowledge that their effort has laid out in front of us like a feast. That is cause for celebration. That is cause for being thankful for so much of the good in this day. There is a need, we human beings have, to know ourselves---to understand our past, to have an idea of where we are headed. There is a need to remember. Celebrate that. Remember how you have been blessed, and be thankful.
Posted on: Sat, 24 May 2014 15:49:58 +0000
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