Architecture and Literature, and What We Can Do

I read with interest this short article on NPR with wonderful photos about how the carpenters are using older technology and strategies to rebuild the roof trusses of Notre Dame in Paris. I'm always in awe of how the cathedrals of the middles ages were built, and by whom. Author Ken Follett has a series of unbelievably rich novels (the Kingsbridge series) that focuses on those workers and the muddy little villages that became major metropolitan centers of commerce and religious life. I get sucked in every single time, and to be honest, reading well-researched historical fiction is my very favorite way to learn about history. I don't mind reading and learning about the major figures that appear in our textbooks, but I'm always far more fascinated with the whole idea of how average people, with nothing more than a deep commitment and some fabulous talents, made such awe-inspiring structures. I'm really enjoying A Column of Fire, and the fourth novel in the series, The Armor of Light, is due out in September. I highly recommend all of the novels in the series, read in order of course. But I digress a little...

I think there's a lesson there, isn't there? That everyday folks like you and me, well, we are the foundation upon which civilization rests and renews itself. The big names in the news will come and go (and some need to go very far away), but the general population continues, generations in succession. It's like looking at old high school photos in the local museums; you see local family names written down over and over again. These folks were--and are-- not pivotal figures in the fabric of our country's history, but they are steadfast, sometimes pillars, of our local community. It's both humbling and ennobling; we are so many, and not really all that noteworthy, but my goodness, we have done great things. 

Yes, the average person has, and can, do great things. We just forget that a lot.

Have a great day--

C