Christmas 2020 is upon us, and once again, I would like to share a Christmas Day poem by the 19th-century Scottish poet and essayist, Robert Louis Stevenson reflecting our common humanity:
A Prayer for Christmas Morning
By Robert Louis Stevenson
The day of joy returns, Father in Heaven, and
crowns another year with peace and good will.
Help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus, that
we may share in the song of the angels, the
gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the
wise men.
Close the doors of hate and open the doors of
love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and good
desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil, by the blessing that Christ
brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts.
May the Christmas morning make us happy to
be thy children.
And the Christmas evening bring us to our bed
with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for
Jesus's sake.
Amen.
Wishing kind thoughts for a Merry Christmas.
Although we are of many faiths,
it is important that our common humanity
allows us to share a season of peace and goodwill.
May each of you stay healthy in the days, weeks and months ahead.
Scott Simon is one of America’s most admired writers and broadcasters. Every week, I make an appointment to listen to NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, which he hosts. I follow him on Twitter, along with a million others. So, when Simon writes, speaks or uses social media to convey what’s on his mind, I’m eager to be in the mix, and I have an appreciation for his respectful thoughts on topics that range from humor to serious matters.
Simon has already written eight books – from novels to memoirs – on a variety of subjects near and dear to him including baseball.
He’s an unabashed Chicago Cubs fan and loyalist and his enthusiasm for our National Pastime easily rubs off on others.
Last month, Simon’s recently-penned ninth book – a story he’s wanted to tell for years – was published by Little, Brown and Company. Sunnyside Plaza, a mystery aimed at young readers, is a “story of empowerment as a young woman decides to help solve a mystery of multiple suspicious deaths in her group home.”
A deft storyteller who can make you both laugh and cry, Simon wrote the mystery of Sunnyside Plaza from his own past. After all, when he was in his teens, Simon took a job in an assisted living facility in Chicago, where he worked with people who had developmental disabilities. He drew upon those experiences there in writing his new book.
“It was more formative in my life, I think, than most any war I’ve covered, any political campaign I’ve covered, any reportorial experience I’ve had,” Simon said in a recent NPR interview. He explained how “it really opened my eyes into seeing the world differently.”
NPR Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon
Recently, my path crossed with Simon’s on his book tour, where he spoke about Sunnyside Plaza before an attentive audience at the American Library Association mid-winter conference in Philadelphia.
In describing the kinds of individuals he came across in the group home, Simon explained that there were “people who have joy and amazing ingenuity just to get through the day, people with great spirit who see past the superficial differences we often see. Once I saw past it, it opened my eyes. It taught something to me.”
On this particular day in Philadelphia and in interviews, Simon speaks about how his personal experiences of working in the group home shaped his thinking and writing about it. In his familiar, midwestern polite tone of voice, he says that he purposefully avoids using specific terms to describe the people living at Sunnyside Plaza because he doesn’t want to get tangled up in an issue of language. Instead, as he suggests, “I want readers to see them as people, not put a label on them at any point in the book.”
Since its publication, Sunnyside Plaza has drawn much critical praise, both in print reviews and from peers. For instance, The Wall Street Journal wrote: “A wise, humane book from NPR’s Scott Simon tells a mystery from the point of view of a 19-year-old resident of a group home for people with intellectual disabilities. Mr. Simon’s respect and affection on every page of this gentle mystery narrated by Sally Miyake, a 19-year-old resident of a group home.” Meanwhile, Jerry Spinnelli, the Newbery winning author of Maniac Magee and The Warden’s Daughter, says: “Sunnyside Plaza is a light in the shadows that illuminates the humanity in us all. It’s a book as special as its characters. A treasure.”
A question that Simon is often asked on his book tour centers on why he’s decided to leap from his role as a highly-respected journalist into writing novels. On his personal website, scottsimonbooks.com, he notes: “I wanted to challenge myself. And I thought I might have something to offer. I’ve been blessed with a rich reporting career that’s often veered between the imperative, like covering wars, and the inane, like learning how to tango (within the same week, I reported the war in Kosovo, and went swimming in Beverly Hills with Esther Williams). One refreshed my perspective for the other. So, I hope I can use my experiences to put details, feeling, and a certain humor into my fiction. And I hope I can apply some old reporting muscles to try to imagine new lives.”
Photo credits: Sunnyside Plaza dust cover courtesy of Amazon.com. Scott Simon photo courtesy of americanlibrariesmagazine.org.
Christmas 2019 is upon us, and once again, I would like to share a Christmas Day poem by the 19th-century Scottish poet and essayist, Robert Louis Stevenson reflecting our common humanity:
A Prayer for Christmas Morning
By Robert Louis Stevenson
The day of joy returns, Father in Heaven, and
crowns another year with peace and good will.
Help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus, that
we may share in the song of the angels, the
gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the
wise men.
Close the doors of hate and open the doors of
love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and good
desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil, by the blessing that Christ
brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts.
May the Christmas morning make us happy to
be thy children.
And the Christmas evening bring us to our bed
with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for
Jesus's sake.
Amen.
Wishing kind thoughts for a Merry Christmas.
Although we are of many faiths,
it is important that our common humanity
allows us to share a season of peace and goodwill.
Christmas 2018 is upon us, and once again, I would like to share a Christmas Day poem by the 19th-century Scottish poet and essayist, Robert Louis Stevenson reflecting our common humanity:
A Prayer for Christmas Morning
By Robert Louis Stevenson
The day of joy returns, Father in Heaven, and
crowns another year with peace and good will.
Help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus, that
we may share in the song of the angels, the
gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the
wise men.
Close the doors of hate and open the doors of
love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and good
desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil, by the blessing that Christ
brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts.
May the Christmas morning make us happy to
be thy children.
And the Christmas evening bring us to our bed
with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for
Jesus's sake.
Amen.
Wishing kind thoughts for a Merry Christmas.
Although we are of many faiths,
it is important that our common humanity
allows us to share a season of peace and goodwill.
Following an evening of enjoyable shopping at the Holiday Market one recent Friday, we happened upon the very lively and fascinating China Chilcano (418 7th Street NW), one of José Andrés’ signature Washington, D.C., restaurants that defines the culinary spectrum of Peru.
“Food is about making an interaction with ingredients,” says Andrés, the celebrity chef and restauranteur – and Nobel Peace Prize nominee – who is a national hero in a city full of political enemies. “If you talk to them, they will always tell you a story.”
What a brilliant story chef Andrés shares night after night. He’s engaging his diners to indulge in a wide range of culinary delights that juxtaposes traditional Peruvian cuisine with Chinese Chifa and Japanese Nikkei – and I’m happy to say that it works. It’s an exciting journey. If you’re lucky, like my wife and I were on the night we dined at China Chilcano, you might even have a chance to say “hi” to chef Andrés and thank him yourself for a wonderful meal.
Why Peru, China and Japan together? According to the menu, the story goes like this: “In the late 19th century, Chinese and Japanese settlers traveled to Peru and made it their home, bringing with them time-honored cooking traditions that sparked the beginning of the rich, multicultural offering that is Peruvian cuisine.”
Our menu selections, which included Chifles Chiferos con Salsa (crispy plantain and taro root chips served with a sweet potato-rocoto sauce and Chinese five spice), Chupe de Camarón (Pacific wild shrimp soup with fresh cheese, chocolate, rice, potato and poached egg), and Chicharrón (a fried pork belly with sweet potato, salsa criollo, and hot sauce sandwich), were bold and flavorful – and all simply superb. We saved room for dessert and ordered the Ponderaciones de Kiwicha (a crispy fried spiral cookie, Fortunato No. 4 chocolate cream, banana, and Algarrobina ice cream). I learned that the Fortunato No. 4 chocolate is made from Pure Nacional Cacao. The name honors the Peruvian farmer, Fortunato, and the mother tree of the rare Pure Nacional Cacao trees that grow in his Marañón Canyon farm.
Recently, chef Andrés and World Central Kitchen, his non-profit organization, have established themselves as a reliable source for feeding the hungry. In the past year, they’ve been to a number of different natural disaster areas such as Houston, Florida, and California as well as to Guatemala and Puerto Rico to provide food and emergency relief. More recently, they’ve fed the hungry and contributed humanitarian relief along the Mexican border town of Tijuana in response to the Trump administration’s hard-line stance on immigration.
In a recent interview with the Washington Post, chef Andrés said showing up in Tijuana was the right thing to do. “In the end, it’s very simple. Our motto comes from John Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’” he said. Then, quoting from the author’s Depression-era novel, “Wherever there’s a fight so hungry people may eat, I will be there.”
A Spanish native who became a naturalized U.S. citizen five years ago, chef Andrés continued: “If you are a person of faith, you will argue this is the right thing to do. If you are a person of love and compassion, this is the right thing to do. If you are a person that believes that pain in the world should go away, this is the right thing to do.”
Earlier this year, chef Andrés, who has become the face of American natural disaster relief, co-wrote a book, ‘We Fed an Island,’ with veteran British journalist Richard Wolffe, following the Hurricane Maria disaster that struck Puerto Rico. It served as a manifesto that asks governments and nonprofit groups to rethink the way in which they feed people after a natural disaster has struck.
If chef Andrés can feed just one person, he is happy. The bottom line according to him is simple: “We don’t need to be politicizing the suffering of others. What we need to be doing is having more compassion.”
Indeed, putting humanity forward is the right thing to do – especially during the holiday season.
Credits: Photo – Google images. Video – PBS NewsHour/YouTube.
Today is Election Day in the United States and throughout America, the mid-term elections serve as a referendum on the direction of our country under President Donald J. Trump. Are we content with the everyday chaos coming out of the White House or do we hearken for something better?
We’re reminded that when the U.S. has been at odds with itself, a born leader has come along to remind us of the common causes we share – and just as important, of our shared humanity. Think back to when Barack Obama became the first black elected President of the United States 10 years ago this week. It seems like such a long time ago, that chilly Election Night victory speech in Chicago’s Grant Park, when one voice changed the world.
However, with the U.S. becoming more deeply divided by the hate, fear, deviciveness and lies that have characterized the first two years of the Trump presidency, it’s worth looking back to some of our country’s past presidents – Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson – all of them leaders, to see if they have something to teach us about the challengers we face as a nation today.
In Leadership in Turbulent Times, published by Simon & Schuster in September, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin draws upon the four presidents she has studied most closely – Lincoln, both Roosevelts and Johnson – to show how each recognized leadership qualities within themselves and were recognized as leaders by others.
Seven questions are explored in great detail in Leadership, which form the foundation of Goodwin’s book. They are: Are leaders born or made? Where does ambition come from? How does adversity affect the growth of leadership? Do the times make the leader or does the leader shape the times? How can a leader infuse a sense of purpose and meaning into people’s lives? What is the difference between power, title, and leadership? Is leadership possible without a purpose larger than personal ambition?
The blogger meets the author.
According to Goodwin, “No common pattern describes the trajectory of leadership. Although set apart in background, abilities, and temperament, these men shared a fierce ambition and a deep-seated resilience that enabled them to surmount uncommon hardships. At their best, all four were guided by a sense of moral purpose. At moments of great challenge, they were able to summon their talents to enlarge the opportunities and lives of others.”
In a recent interview with The History Channel, Goodwin said that leadership is elusive because one size does not fit all. “In my book, I have sought to make the concept of leadership less abstract and more practical through specific stories that can provide a guide and inspiration to show how – with ambition, self-reflection and perseverance – leadership skills can be developed and strengthened.
“Through my study of leadership these past five years, I found a family resemblance of traits and patterns of behavior – among them humility, empathy, resilience, courage; the ability to replenish energy, listen to diverse opinions, control negative impulses, connect with all manner of people, communicate through stories and keep one’s word. ... They remind us of what is needed today.”
On Abraham Lincoln, Goodwin characterized the 16th President by writing: “Confident and humble, persistent and patient, Abraham Lincoln had the ability to mediate among different factions of his party, and was able, through his gift for language, to translate the meaning of the struggle into words of matchless force, clarity and beauty.”
We should be grateful for Goodwin’s book – she offers heartening examples of leadership from the past in the hope that “we will not accept our current uncivil polarization as the norm.”
Goodwin hopes that Leadership will provide reassurance through the study and stories of “my guys,” who set forth a template of shared purpose, collaboration and compromise – “the best of our collective identity in times of trouble.”
Leadership in Turbulent Times is timely – very timely – and it’s timeless at the same time.
Last night, while many of us throughout America were either sitting down to Thursday dinner or enjoying an evening of "must-watch" prime-time television, the U.S. made a direct attack of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria (where it was already early Friday morning) in retaliation for the gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians by the Assad regime.
The attack represented the first direct American assault on the Syrian government and President Donald Trump's "most dramatic military order since becoming president."
The airfield strikes denoted a very big change in U.S. policy – and it was done without the President seeking congressional approval. "Assad's vicious brutality demands a response," said Congressman Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) on his Facebook page. "But this country doesn't fight wars without giving the American people a say." Many others in Congress conveyed the same thoughts as Kennedy.
There's a lot to digest here and both American and international media are weighing in on this story of world consequences. It's front-page "real" news across this country and the video images have been splashed all over various American cable TV news networks almost continuously since last evening.
There's one little thing that I am just a little troubled by. Perhaps, you are, too. The President said during his speech to the nation Thursday, delivered from a makeshift podium inside Mar-a-Lago, where earlier he had been hosting a dinner for the Chinese President: "No child of God should suffer such horror." Hmm. ... So, he sees them now as children of God, but not when they are trying to escape the danger of civil war and chemical weapons?
Air strike or not, Mr. President, we must welcome Syrian refugees into our country like our good neighbors to the north, Canada, have been doing with dignity and humanity for some time. The time to act, sir, is now.
How did I spend my Super Bowl Sunday? Watching the big game, of course. As much as I was riveted by the exciting outcome – New England beat Atlanta, 34-28, after coming from behind to force the first overtime game in the 51-year history of the Super Bowl – I focused on the commercials, too.
This year, many ads contained politically charged messages and several TV spots highlighted hot-button themes such as immigration (Budweiser, 84 Lumber), equal pay (Audi) and inclusion (Coca-Cola). Are you paying attention, Mr. President?
Long after the game ends, collectively, we do seem to remember the commercials, especially the good ones. There were a couple of ads that resonated with me for a variety of reasons, for Coca-Cola and for Airbnb. Both aired early during Sunday evening's Super Bowl LI game broadcast.
In "It's Beautiful," Coca-Cola's message was simple: "Together is beautiful." The Atlanta-based soft drink titan scored a touchdown with its Super Bowl ad that aired just before kickoff, in which culturally diverse Americans sang a multilingual version of "America The Beautiful," in English, Hindi, Arabic and Tagalog.
The 60-second spot designed by Wieden + Kennedy debuted during the 2014 Super Bowl to mixed results and was revived during last year's Rio Olympic Games. However, given the current national conversation many Americans have been sharing about immigration and diversity, its message seemed more relevant. "It's Beautiful" featured plenty of beautiful, multicultural images depicting America as a nation of many races, many ethnicities and many religions. It promoted optimism, inclusion and humanity, themes which seem foreign to the dystopian American carnage being propagated by the Trump Administration. It was beautifully filmed and edited, and given today's political climate, "It's Beautiful" took on a certain poignance this time.
Another commercial worth applauding came from Airbnb, whose politically charged message in its "We Accept" ad spoke volumes about diversity and acceptance: "Acceptance starts with all of us." In its Super Bowl commercial, put together on short notice – perhaps seen as a Silicon Valley response to President Trump's immigration ban – Airbnb reminded us of this simple but important message: "We believe no matter who you are, where you're from, who you love, or who you worship, we all belong. The world is more beautiful the more you accept." Indeed, the world is more beautiful the more #weaccept. The hashtag went viral by halftime.
Afterwards, I learned Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced that the company is aiming to provide short-term housing for 100,000 refugees, disaster survivors, and other displaced persons over the next five years. Additionally, over the next four years, Airbnb will donate $4 million to the International Rescue Committee.
"We couldn't talk about the lack of acceptance in the world without pointing out the challenges in our own community at Airbnb," the company said in a statement following the airing of its ad. "The painful truth is that guests on Airbnb have experienced discrimination, something that is the very opposite of our values. We know we have work to do and are dedicated to achieving greater acceptance in our community."
Looking back on both ads – expressions of American values I support – reminded me of this: I have many multicultural friends – thanks, Facebook – who are close and dear to me. They represent many races and ethnic backgrounds, come from many different religious faiths, and speak multiple languages. I have friends who identify with the LGBTQ community. I have friends who are biracial. I have friends who are raising biracial children and friends who are parenting transgendered children. Thus, it's important to see advertisers, representing both legacy and start-up companies, reaching out to all Americans by conveying positive messages about inclusion, diversity and acceptance. After all, there's no larger TV audience than a Super Bowl audience for spreading a good message.
Regardless of what you think, Mr. President, these ads conveyed the true spirit of our America.
Cover photo: Courtesy of Google Images. Videos: Courtesy of YouTube.
With Christmas 2016 upon us, once again, I would like to share a Christmas Day poem by the 19th-century Scottish poet and essayist, Robert Louis Stevenson reflecting our common humanity:
A Prayer for Christmas Morning
By Robert Louis Stevenson
The day of joy returns, Father in Heaven, and
crowns another year with peace and good will.
Help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus, that
we may share in the song of the angels, the
gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the
wise men.
Close the doors of hate and open the doors of
love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and good
desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil, by the blessing that Christ
brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts.
May the Christmas morning make us happy to
be thy children.
And the Christmas evening bring us to our bed
with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for
Jesus's sake.
Amen.
Wishing kind thoughts for a Merry Christmas.
Although we are of many faiths,
it is important that our common humanity
allows us to share a season of peace and goodwill.
May there be peace on Earth, good will towards men. How lovely are the messengers that preach us the gospel of peace!
There are so many different things that can tie together a good message about our faith, love and hope in God. And, there are plenty of good messages that are worth sharing. Sometimes, it just takes moving in the slow lane of life, observing, and enjoying the journey.
With Christmas just a few days away, I would like to share a Christmas Day poem by the 19th-century Scottish poet and essayist Robert Louis Stevenson reflecting our common humanity:
A Prayer for Christmas Morning
By Robert Louis Stevenson
The day of joy returns, Father in Heaven, and
crowns another year with peace and good will.
Help us rightly to remember the birth of Jesus, that
we may share in the song of the angels, the
gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the
wise men.
Close the doors of hate and open the doors of
love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift and good
desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil, by the blessing that Christ
brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts.
May the Christmas morning make us happy to
be thy children.
And the Christmas evening bring us to our bed
with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for
Jesus's sake.
Amen.
Wishing kind thoughts for a Merry Christmas. Although we are of many faiths, it is important that our common humanity allows us to share a season of peace and goodwill.
Imagine how you might feel if you were lost, afraid, unsure, disoriented, alone. Or, a parent trying to make sure your kids didn't starve. How desperate might you be if that person was you, a Syrian refugee?
As the leader of the free world, the United States has a moral responsibility to do its fair share to come to the aid of Syrian refugees seeking compassion after having been displaced from their home country. Yet, an irrational fear and political demagoguery from right-wing zealots brought on following the recent Paris terrorist attacks has replaced human kindness in my country.
Many democratic nations of the world are doing their fair part to admit and welcome Syrian refugees. For instance, Germany has already accepted 38,500 and Canada 36,300. In the days after the Paris attack, French President François Hollande said that his country would accept 30,000 Syrian refugees over the next two years. Meanwhile, the United States has pledged to take in a modest 10,000 Syrian refugees, a paltry figure compared to the compassion shown by our Canadian neighbors to the north and our European allies across the pond. We could -- and should -- do so much more.
And yet, one Republican Party candidate for President, Donald Trump, is calling for a ban on a Syrian refugees, calling them "Trojan horses" for terrorism, while another, Dr. Ben Carson, likens Syrians to "rabid dogs." The scapegoating of refugees by these American politicians is not only very aggravating, it's mean-spirited. Their demagoguery -- out and out fear mongering -- about the refugees is a very mean punch in our nation's collective gut. Ever since the Paris attacks, Trump has ratcheted the populist rhetoric all the while spewing lies and half-truths, channeling the anxieties of Americans into fear and hate.
"We are not well served when in response to a terrorist attack we descend into fear and panic," President Barack Obama said last week. He reinforced his position during a joint press conference with Mr. Hollande at the White House on Tuesday afternoon.
As The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote in his Sunday column, "As anti-refugee hysteria sweeps many of our political leaders, particularly Republicans, I wonder what they would have told a desperate refugee family fleeing the Middle East. You've heard of this family: a carpenter named Joseph, his wife, Mary, and their baby son, Jesus.
"According to the Gospel of Matthew, after Jesus' birth, they fled to save Jesus from murderous King Herod (perhaps the 2,000-year -ago equivalent of Bashar al-Assad of Syria?). Fortunately, Joseph, Mary and Jesus found de-facto asylum in Egypt -- thank goodness House Republicans weren't in charge when Jesus was a refugee!"
A Syrian father tries to comfort his two children / Together, they are refugees yearning for freedom.
So far, more than 200,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict. What is happening in that ravaged, Middle East war-torn country is one of the largest humanitarian crises since World War II. These desperate Syrian refugees should be admired for their courage and seen in the same yearning for freedom as refugees from any other war-torn or repressed country.
Instead, here in the United States, thanks to the Islamic State's terrorizing strategy of "creating a wedge in the West between Muslims and non-Muslims," according to Kristof, an anti-Syrian backlash has been created and many "fear mongers" such as Trump, Carson and Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz are looking upon immigrants and refugees as the enemy. They are effectively trying to de-humanize every Syrian person, branding them as "Not Like Us."
Listen, the problem is not the Syrian refugees, the ones who are fleeing persecution from the barbaric acts and twisted ideology carried out by murderous ISIS radical jihadists. As I see it, the problem in America is a political clouding caused by partisan politics that's more than just prejudiced -- it's become downright xenophobic, with a lot of finger-pointing aimed at all Muslim people. It's an insult to the more than 1.5 billion Muslims who peacefully worship Islam throughout the world.
While security within the U.S. borders is a legitimate concern -- and we can't rule out the slim possibility that a terrorist might slip in with the refugees -- let's take a moment and put things into proper perspective. Refugee admission into the United States is the most deeply vetted pathway, one which can take a couple of years for the process to be completed. So, do you really think a terrorist will wait two years to try to infiltrate our borders as a refugee? Not very likely. A terrorist who really wants to attack America would more likely be sent to this country by ISIS or any other terrorist organization as a student or as a tourist, and I don't see any of my country's political leaders calling for a ban on international students coming to study in our prestigious colleges and universities, or a ban on tourists coming to visit America's vibrant cities. As some have rightfully suggested, security must be permeated, but "with common sense and a bit of heart."
I am in agreement with Kristof and applaud how he summed up his feelings: "To seek to help desperate refugees in a secure way is not naïveté. It's not sentimentality. It's humanity."
Talking points: If great art and architecture belongs to humanity, do we have a responsibility to save it during wartime? If so, should the recent barbaric destruction of Iraq's ancient artifacts by Islamic State militants be treated as a war crime?
What began with the shocking videos that went viral showing Islamic State militants destroying priceless Iraqi antiquities at a Mosul museum has escalated into the wholesale destruction of Iraq's heritage as ancient archeological sites in Nimrud and Hatra lay in ruins. Nimrud is an ancient Assyrian city while Hatra dates to the first century B.C.
Reading about these recent disturbing events brought to mind a book I read a few years ago, A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor. It is a book which upon further review has given me a renewed appreciation for our past and made me realize why we should care about preserving it for future generations.
From the handaxe to the credit card / There's a lot we can learn through ordinary objects.
A History of the World in 100 Objects is based on the popular BBC Radio 4 series, and in the book the author "takes a dramatically original approach to the history of humanity" by using objects left behind by previous civilizations -- often accidentally -- and describes them as "prisms through which we can explore past worlds and the lives of the men and women who lived in them."
Imagine a book that is both an intellectual and visual feast, and allows you to travel back in time and across the globe to see how the human experience has shaped the world and been shaped by it over the past two million years.
In February 2012, I wrote about A History of the World in 100 Objects.
In light of the tragic destruction of antiquities in Iraq, it is worth revisiting what I wrote three years ago so that we may appreciate the heritage of art and its humanity:
A History of the World in 100 Objects begins with the story of a chopping tool from the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, Africa, a relic that is between 1.8-2 million years old and is one of the earliest surviving objects made by human hands. This hefty, 707-page book, which we recently checked out from our local public library, concludes with a story about an object from the modern, twenty-first century: a solar-powered lamp and charger manufactured in Shenzhen, Guandong, China, that is representative of the world we live in today.
A History of the World in 100 Objects / Exploring world history from two million years ago to the present.
According to the book's dust jacket, Neil MacGregor's aim "is not simply to describe these remarkable things, but to show us their significance ~ how a stone pillar tells us about a great Indian emperor preaching tolerance to his people, how Spanish pieces of eight tell us about the beginning of a global currency, or how an early Victorian tea set tells us about the impact of empire."
MacGregor, who has been the director of the British Museum since 2002, writes: "The story is told exclusively through the things that humans have made -- all sorts of things, carefully designed and then either admired and preserved, or used, broken and thrown away. I've chosen just a hundred objects from different points on our journey -- from a cooking pot to a golden galleon, from a Stone Age tool to a credit card, and each object comes from the collection of the British Museum."
Through these 100 objects, MacGregor describes history as a kaleidoscope -- "shifting, interconnected, constantly surprising, and shaping our world today in ways that most of us have never imagined."
At the time of the book's publishing, Carol Vogel of the New York Times wrote: "These objects, some humble, some glorious, embody intriguing tales of politics and power, social history and human behavior."
The British Museum / As I saw it in 2005.
During a 2005 spring vacation trip to London, I took advantage of the opportunity to explore the British Museum. What's truly remarkable about this museum, replete with its Greek Revival facade and first opened to the public in 1759, is that its holdings do not including any paintings. However, what this museum does include is an impressive collection of antiquities. As it turned out, my visit to the British Museum was one of the most enjoyable afternoons I have ever spent at a museum.
Among many things that stood out for me in the breadth of the museum's collections was seeing the Rosetta Stone up close and personal. Like the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris, everyone crowded around, wanting to catch a glimpse of the Rosetta Stone and photograph it.
The Rosetta Stone, found at el-Rashid, Egypt in 196 B.C., is the 33rd of 100 objects whose story is told by MacGregor and, among visitors to the museum, it is definitely a must-see attraction.
"Every day when I walk through the Egyptian sculpture gallery at the British Museum there are tour guides speaking every imaginable language addressing groups of visitors, all craning to see this object. It is on every visitor's itinerary, and, with the mummies, it's the most popular object in the British Museum," writes MacGregor.
The Rosetta Stone / The most popular object in the British Museum.
"Why? It's decidedly dull to look at -- a grey stone about the size of one of those large suitcases you see people trundling around on wheels at airports," adds MacGregor. "The rough edges show that it's been broken from a larger stone, with the fractures cutting across the text that covers one side. And when you read that text, it's pretty dull too -- it's mostly bureaucratic jargon about tax concessions. But, as so often in the Museum, appearances are deceptive."
MacGregor continues: "This dreary bit of broken granite has played a starring role in three fascinating and different stories: the story of the Greek kings who ruled in Alexandria after Alexander the Great conquered Egypt; the story of the French and British imperial competition across the Middle East after Napoleon invaded Egypt; and the extraordinary but peaceful scholarly contest that led to the most famous decipherment in history -- the cracking of hieroglyphics."
What matters now, writes MacGregor, "is not what the stone says but that it says it three times in three different languages: in Classical Greek, the language of the Greek rules and the state administration, and then in two forms of ancient Egyptian: the everyday writing of the people (known as Demotic) and the priestly hieroglyphics which had for centuries baffled Europeans. It was the Rosetta Stone that changed all that; it dramatically opened up the entire world of ancient Egypt to scholarship."
What I find truly amazing after reading the chapter about the Rosetta Stone is that it survived unread through 2,000 years of various occupations, including the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Persians, Muslim Arabs and Ottoman Turks. Eventually, the 1798 Napoleon-led French military invasion of Egypt ("they wanted to cut the British route to India") yielded the Rosetta Stone. "The French seized the stone as a trophy of war, but it never made it back to Paris. With his fleet destroyed by Nelson at the Battle of the Nile, Napoleon himself returned to France, leaving the French army behind. In 1801, the French surrendered to the British and Egyptian generals. The terms of the Treaty of Alexandria included the handing over of antiquities, among them the Rosetta Stone."
Soon, the stone found its way to Great Britain for good after its capture by the British Army where it was presented to the British Museum by King George III. The Rosetta Stone has been displayed in the public domain at the British Museum since 1802.
Today, the Rosetta Stone is freely available for the world's scholars to see. Ironically, it was a French scholar, Jean-Francois Champollion, who finally cracked the stone's hieroglyphics in 1822. For the British Museum's many visitors, who wait patiently like I did on a Sunday afternoon in March 2005 for a fleeting glimpse, seeing the Rosetta Stone is a thrill of a lifetime and a chance opportunity to photograph it for posterity.
Photographs of the British Museum and the Rosetta Stone by Michael Dickens, copyright 2005.
