There are certain things in life that get me fired up. 1) Invasion of my privacy. 2) Being told what to do so my ability to choose is no longer an option. 3) When historically or culturally significant buildings are either torn down or allowed to fall down.
Today in the New York Times Opinion section there was an article about what is happening to specific cultural sites in Afghanistan. I don't agree with the author that the US should step in and save the day with a check, but she has some valid points. If the Afghani government doesn't designate certain things as Historical Sites then they continue to decay and we no longer have the opportunity to learn from past cultures. So much gets lost when this happens. UNESCO can protect and preserve such sites when the individual country declares and petitions them to be a UNESCO World Heritage site. I was almost as fired up as when I heard the Baghdad Museum had been looted and that the Italian government was allowing Pompeii to disintegrate. (Shame!)
But, as I know, it would be ridiculous to stand outside these sites in Afghanistan handing out white cotton gloves, yelling, "Don't touch without gloves!" People who have been displaced because of the fighting need shelter. But there's no need for the troops to behave as Napoleon's men in Egypt and see who can knock the nose off a sphinx with a cannon. Have some respect, people!
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