Monday, July 05, 2004

This is probably one of those thoughts that deserves an essay, or at least a few edited revision cycles. And while this is not the thought, I wonder if one of the reasons we have such great writing and thoughts in what seem like higher concentrations from scholars and philosophers of old is that they would never have sat and written with a car alarm going off in the back ground. Of course, they also wouldn't have been able to find a classical station streaming over the Internet within thirty seconds of stated problem. They at least would have had the presence of mind and self-discipline to walk into the next room for a CD. But as initially annoyed as I was taking the crowded Metrolink down for the fireworks, that was as close as we get in St. Louis to being a true St. Louis. More so than a Cardinal's game. More so than any other public event in our city. Rich and poor. Black, white, yellow, red, man, woman, old, young. All going downtown for a free event. No reserved seating. A shared experience demarkated not by class or money but by what time one arrived. And yes, there are people in buildings, on top of parking garages, in penthouse suites, but those folks miss out on the concussive effects, or, even better, ashes falling from above. They even played a trick on us this time. Shooting off what seemed the finale, a relatively wimpy send off, during which many people started to leave, and continued to leave after the real finale started, as if it was so important to get on getting on, that the saved five minutes of travel time made missing the homerun worth it. But the experience made me proud to be an American, proud of the institutions our imperfect society has somehow developed. Until I saw the massive amount of trash people left behind. I was reminded again of how our privilige of living in a relatively enlightened society has become, for most, ignorant entitlement. I wonder if this was what life was like before the fall of Rome. I wonder who among us will create the institutions for our forebears. And what those will be. One thing I fear is a calvacade of the shallow, the quick fix, to replace the values of institutions, like barbarians raiding monasteries. And that poverty of ideas can take many forms, some of it in the form of Christianity itself today. Values are not cliches to be espoused on Sundays or Saturdays, or five times a day, but a way of living, a way of being community. 11:30:11 PM