Notre Dam burns.

 

We can learn this lesson today…

There are so many art forms. The ones we lust for now are just… Replaceable entertainments: we watch one movie and then a new one comes. We finish one television series, and look for the next to consume.

I appreciate these new arts, but the intricate work done in the 12th century; those lost in the flames of Notre Dame, there’s just no comparison. These new entertainments we ogle over bowls of popcorn; We don’t study and pore over them, students of their structure and source. What we create now is meant to be consumed, created relatively quickly, often with money and fame as primary goals. But those key art works, those centuries old pieces, those hand hewn instruments, and laboriously scrolled books, sculptures, and stained-glass, those took years… long lives… insight and vision, that few have now.

I am mourning our collective loss of these as a united human race. We have much to cry over these days for sure, but today; Notre Dame, as we have known her, is one of the loveliest jewels lost from the crown of human achievement. Perhaps she can be rebuilt… but as with all rebuilds, something is lost in the newness.

All the toils and tools, sweat and single-minded dedication, the artist’s hands and poet’s hearts that went into it, I mourn their loss too.

Something deep is lost, and it cannot be replaced. This is a lesson we MUST learn. We live in a world where we replace everything; we replace one dog with a cat, an old car with a new SUV, one spouse with another, an aging employee with a young one (for less pay;) We pollute the world with our replaced and thrown away. We’ve lost the inherent depth of the very term: “design.” Now, we “design” throwaway appliances; we fashion throwaway razors, and manufacture throwaway plates, coffee-pods and I Pads. We repair almost nothing. We replace. We’ve even replaced our mourning. We replaced mourning losses with high grade political gristle.

Everything is replaceable. We’ve forgotten how precious some things are, have been for so long, to so many, for so many reasons. We drill and mine in our natural places, frack our waters, and burn our shores; we buy art at Target to replace the old one that no longer matches our replacement sofa…

Replace.
Everything is replaceable.

Expendable.
Everything is expendable.

Destructible.
Everything is destructible.

The thing is, with that view, what’s next?

Not
Everything
Comes
Back

Some things, once gone,
Are gone forever.

maybe even us
if we don’t begin to see the value in all