19th October 2006, 10:33 AM
The short answer - YES!
I feel it is very much like asking if history is relevant to the modern world, and I am no doubt that anyone would argue that it is not. Our heritage and history is essential to our identities, and equally important in helping dispelling myths. (Although I admit that they have been used to create myths). If we do not understand or at least know a little about our past, then we cannot understand our present and therefore make provision for the future.
It is pretty well documented that when one country or culture violently invades another one of the first actions is to destroy the written and physical heritage, to deny the original population their identity and links to the landscape etc. For example the destruction of various native South American temples by conquistadors, the defacing of monuments in Thailand when the Burmese invaded in the 17th century, the wilful destruction of Buddhist temples in Nepal and Mongolia by the Chinese, or in their own countries, the destruction of religious places in Communist Russia, ditto in Communist China. Pol Pot, says it all. We even see it today on going in the Middle East, or even occasionally here, with the fire bombing of mosques to deny Muslims the right to practice their faith. The list truly is endless.
What would be equally awful, would be to deny and destroy our own heritage in the name of 'progress'. I do not deny for one second that we need progress (we are meant to be good at it), but how can we progress forward if we do not know our past?
Plus I need my job and I can't think of anything else I would rather do, except be an ice cream taster!
the future's bright; the future's trowel shaped
I feel it is very much like asking if history is relevant to the modern world, and I am no doubt that anyone would argue that it is not. Our heritage and history is essential to our identities, and equally important in helping dispelling myths. (Although I admit that they have been used to create myths). If we do not understand or at least know a little about our past, then we cannot understand our present and therefore make provision for the future.
It is pretty well documented that when one country or culture violently invades another one of the first actions is to destroy the written and physical heritage, to deny the original population their identity and links to the landscape etc. For example the destruction of various native South American temples by conquistadors, the defacing of monuments in Thailand when the Burmese invaded in the 17th century, the wilful destruction of Buddhist temples in Nepal and Mongolia by the Chinese, or in their own countries, the destruction of religious places in Communist Russia, ditto in Communist China. Pol Pot, says it all. We even see it today on going in the Middle East, or even occasionally here, with the fire bombing of mosques to deny Muslims the right to practice their faith. The list truly is endless.
What would be equally awful, would be to deny and destroy our own heritage in the name of 'progress'. I do not deny for one second that we need progress (we are meant to be good at it), but how can we progress forward if we do not know our past?
Plus I need my job and I can't think of anything else I would rather do, except be an ice cream taster!
the future's bright; the future's trowel shaped