I am working my way through this delightful collection of essays by Tracy Lee Simmons, which beckons the reader to gather round for a conversation on just exactly “What IS Civilization?” Following are some of my favorite quotes from the “Prologue”:
“…this question [‘what is civilization]…really lies behind almost everything we do, with and without our children” (3)
“We simply must consent to follow wiser people who know how to guide us” (5).
“By [a] material or technological standard we can admit that no civilization has ever been more advanced than our own” but “when we look to those not-so-easily quantified measures–spiritual, aesthetic, or intellectual values, for instance–…we in the modern world may not pan out so well” (6).
Education “that more or less systematic development of the soul and intellect” (7).
“We are a blessed people, and the life well lived consists in acknowledging all of this boldly and without apology and without embarrassment–and in helping others to arrive at the same truth–starting with our children” (13).
Works Cited
Simmons, Tracy Lee. On Being Civilized: A Few Lines Amid the Breakage. Memoria Press, 2023.
© 2024 Angela Hormberg
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