I know it’s Mueller Report day, so we have all moved on from the Notre Dame fire. But after I saw yet another Facebook post this morning decrying the fact that people care more about “a building” than [fill in the blank], I needed to get this out.
I cried when I watched Notre Dame burn. Do you know what else makes me cry? The destruction of the environment, dead coral reefs, black people abused and subjugated and their churches being burned by white supremacists, starving children in Yemen, genocide, homes and lives destroyed by floods and fires, sex trafficked humans, opiate overdoses, kids in cages, the plight of refugees, mass shootings, species extinction, animal cruelty, people ignoring or denying a warming planet, the homeless, the poor and a whole host of other tragedies that happen every day. I try to fight for/against those things every day.
All I have read for the last two days is about how awful it is that people care more about "a building" than they do other humans. This is a false dichotomy. I DO care. I care about all of it. I am sure many others do as well.
It was a beautiful moment of solidarity across the world, as people came together to mourn and support France, when one of their icons, an 856 year old epitome of Gothic architecture and UNESCO World Heritage site that took 2 centuries to build, and survived revolutions and 2 World Wars, went up in flames. It took less than a day for people to destroy that and start shaming and arguing over it. Because that is just what we do now.
Staggering beauty has value. Human legacy and accomplishment has value. Art has value.
A lot of these rich men also spend a lot of money on charitable causes. Yes it could and should be more. Yes they should be paying their fair share of taxes. But my point is many are caring about more than one issue at a time.
And because these millionaires are donating so much money, I was able to instead increase my modest donation to help the black churches in Louisiana that were burned down by arsonists, knowing the Notre Dame is being taken care of. (I am grateful for people that brought attention to this issue, and that donations to the southern black churches have dramatically increased. I am sorry it did not receive more attention when it happened. )
I don't have an eloquent closing. I just wanted to defend the importance of art and history, because that matters too. Thanks for reading.
Here is a link to the Louisiana churches as suggested by Assaf. Thank you for that suggestion!