On Sun, 20 Apr 2003 18:53:05 -0400, tmren <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

<snip>

>Preserving a civilization's history, cultural memory and wisdom is not
>insignificant--it is a cherished profession however unappreciated these
>days by so many.

<snip>

>But the real
>bottom line from all of this is, if people see that cultural heritage as
>a frill, or as a recreational destination a couple times of year, rather
>than something  vital to our existence, 24/7, we have ratcheted way down
>the dignity of being human.
>
>Terri McNichol


Terri --

Actually, I think they were paraphrasing Shaw's dictum that art is that
which is non-utilitarian.  None of us has ever said it was
insignificant; merely unimportant in a vital or material sense.

I guess I was merely trying to point out, in my own, clumsy way, that there
are many things to be outraged about in Iraq: the civiliam deaths, the
children's prisons, the torture chambers, the lies and propaganda, the
looting of hospitals, the fact that it ever even came to this... and what
are we expending our moral capital on?  Broken pots.  Gloriously beautiful
and irreplacably valuable pots, but pots all the same.  Not human beings.
Not miserable, shattered lives.  But pots.

To me, that just feels wrong.  But then, I've never felt that the essential
dignity of being human resided in material things, but rather in the
empathy of the heart.

-- Gene

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