So I’m sitting, here, looking at a picture of Robert Downing Junior, and I’m thinking to myself, “What’s the point of it all?” It may be said that I view the world with a bit too much introspection. And now, I am looking at three sturdy brick columns on the side of the library. They support most of the library’s weight, and are composed of stone excavated from a nearby quarry and fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.
For the longest time, stone construction was a good method of constructing buildings. The romans used stone, and in addition to that stone, built with shapes such as the arch to form structures much larger than anything else concieved at that time. The Chinese Han dynasty built grand structures to rival the romans, perhaps. Indeed, the forbidden city in beijing was probably the only wonder of construction that went unrivaled until modern times. Though the roman Colloseum probably came close to rivaling the magnanimity of the Chinese.
Speaking of comparisons between the romans and the Chinese, theirs is a rivalry that is very unusual. It might be said that the ancient romans never actual had much contact with the Chinese. In fact, scant evidence is really available. The Chinese, of course, are commonly known for being historically xenophobic. There have been maps discovered in the ancient chinese archives depicting North America. In fact, the Chinese probably were the first civilization to have visited every continent on earth(An exclusion might be made for Antarctica, which was considered a place not to go. Though they did know of that landmass.)
By comparison, the Romans fell from grace at the time that the Chinese were quickly consolidating their enormous gains in science and technology. Rome was burning before the construction of the Great Wall. It is a very wondrous thing, then, that the western world eventually grew so powerful as to dwarf the Chinese civilization all together.
More than this, I would not be surprised if any Chinese individual, having an awareness of world history, still feels a kind of painful humiliation at the subjugation of the Chinese. This sort of thing would probably never occur in a country like America. America is only about 200 years old, and compared with a civilization that has a history of over 6000 years…shame is not really an emotion befitting an American Businessman.
Again, though, to discuss the stone columns that I am looking at, they are built very much in the style of the nearby spanish Missions, and the reflect a quant, antiquarian mood that blends in seamlessly with the surrounding environment. Outside, a gentle breeze turns the leaves and causes them to sway, and to the south of the building is a large field populated with oak and pine and mesquite.
The days here are beautiful, if a bit hot. In fact, the heat that is so present in the local region has made it difficult for most of the middle class to venture outdoors. The usual people one might find outside are the mexican paleteros, riding on their fifties american bikes and selling ice cream. There are also the many muffler shops that most certainly do not have air conditioning. The sound of bolts ripping and clacking against newly placed tires fills the air.
Where I am, there is the soft murmur of the individual, whispering the words to some lesson plan she is going over on the library computer. The need for such computer use at the library is very strong, as the presence and ease of possessing a computer system prevents the proliferation of internet cafe’s. This, of course, is finely adapted to by the middle class. But coming here to the library, one can easily see the vast variety of lower income individuals who have no computer, who do not know how to work a computer.
These people are the new melting pot. They are not divided by lines of race, or class, or ethnicity. A small, blond haired white girl sits next to a brown skinned moreno wearing an Ed Hardy Baseball cap. And he in turn sits next to a red-skinned older man with asteel dragont-shirt. There are nurses and there are students. There are stay at home moms, plenty of young men who probably know someone in a gang, if they aren’t in one themselves. There are young men who are not in a gang, there are those that play games, and those that do research, and those that date women.
But who isn’t here is very conspicuous. There are no businessmen. There are no politicians. There are no financiers or entrepreneurs of venture capitalists. There are no suits, and there are no ties. These people dress in T-shirts and jeans. Sometimes slacks, and even then, only because they have to go to work at Wal-mart soon.
These people are the great heart of America. They are not cynical, but rather have a hope of bettering themselves. And they may be onthe computer at the library, but they are using that special time tod o research, to teach themselves new things, to experience new things. They are applying for Jobs, they are writing editorials. They are reading the news. They are participating in a vast and vibrant culture, of which they themselves are creating independently of the media.
In fact, the media itself has a term amongst these people. Reality Television is Fake propaganda. Sound bites are Jibber Jabber. They have no patience for the politician or the businessman or the elite.
It is out of these people that america will persevere. I have my hopes on them, and I know they will deliver.
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