Anthony Esolen asks some simple but
thought-provoking questions that we may use as a measuring rod in his essay
‘What Is a Healthy Culture?’. Here are a
few of them:
. . .
How
do we adorn our homes and our public places with art that comes from the people
and is for the people? What whimsical craftsmanship is to be found on the steps
of the post office, or the balustrade at the courthouse, or the eaves of the
dry goods store? Do we build what is simple and sweet, or rather what is dull
and drab? Do we build what is colorful and bold, or rather what is garish and
obnoxious? Do we build what is noble and grand, or rather what is gigantic and
inhuman?
What
songs do we sing? If our captors asked us to sing the songs of Sion in an alien
land, would we know any? How many of us could pick up a guitar or a fiddle
nearby and play a love song passed down from ear to hand to ear to hand, from
one generation to the next? What music brings together grandparent and
grandchild?
. . .
When
we get together with all of our neighbors, what do we do? Do we build a house,
raise a barn, glean the corn, bale the hay, march in parade, listen to
patriotic speeches, play music, compete in games of skill or speed or strength,
sing songs, honor the dead, or fall to our knees in prayer? Do we in fact do
anything with our neighbors?
. . .
Source: http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2015/06/what-is-a-healthy-culture.html,
accessed 18 June 2015
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