Ponce de Leon statue in St. Augustine (Dan Lundberg)‘Reflections on a Visit to Saint Augustine’: A Poem by Brian Yapko The Society March 18, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 14 Comments . Reflections on a Visit to Saint Augustine With each step up the old Castillo wall I pray The hurricane will detour east past Grand Bahama. If windborne flooding comes, it can’t be held at bay— St. Augustine has only minimal protection: The remnants of its wall won’t hold off storm-wrought trauma. But there’s some hope: the nearby barrier island may Divert the lethal tide and force the flood’s deflection. That island? Anastasia. Greek for “Resurrection.” An inlet leads directly to the open sea Across whose churning waves—a Land of Renaissance Whose people came as pioneers by crown decree. I do not speak of England but of Habsburg Spain And her conquistadors who, with full obeisance, In 1565 set up this port as key To passage home of Aztec gold and sugarcane. St. Augustine was linchpin of the Spanish Main. The oldest city built within the USA By Spanish soldiers flush with love of coin and cross, Who subjugated Indians—and made it pay. Should I feel guilt? I’ll brook no racist accusation. My ancestors from Europe fleeing dreadful loss Did not arrive till 1910. Still, I can weigh The morals breached in piercing tribal isolation And forcing clashes with the West’s civilization. What do the haters think… The ones who say they’d rather The Natives never had their ignorance abused? A tender thought—but fantasy and so much blather To claim a nation must not look past its frontiers. In fact, I’d say that Spain is wrongfully accused. Exploring is as human as to hunt and gather. Should tribes be left in darkness when new light appears? Condemned to live with human sacrifice and spears? Of course, Spain’s outpost here is very different now. The tourists come in hordes from Boston and New York To see the clapboard houses and the Pirate show— Pure camp in what was once an outpost of the West. I watch a couple buy a mermaid made of cork And shells. The wife’s phone rings and someone starts a row: The hurricane is on its way—would it be best To leave right now? They’ll wait till dawn. They need their rest! I too need rest. I’ve toured about a dozen sites And still am not persuaded that the storm will come. I’m scheduled to remain in town for three more nights. I’ll check the news. If need be, I can leave at dawn. But something’s different now. The town has lost its hum. The shops are closing early, as are many sights. The park is lovely but the tourists have all gone. There’s none here but a statue of Ponce de Leon. I’m glad that Florida does not degrade tradition And will not heed the tantrums of an angry mob Which hates conquistadors, which revels in sedition, Which claims to love but drafts long lists of the despised, And vandalizes all they cannot burn or rob. This unscathed statue celebrates the West’s ambition Yet baffles me: why is the West no longer prized? Why aren’t we proud to say that we are civilized? Our great leaps forward mean we have security! Are we not pleased our bronze age ancestors grew smart Enough to leave the hunt behind and find the surety Of agriculture? Urban life? Deducing pi? The rise of writing? Temples? Altars? Music? Art? The arc from stone age to modern maturity? The flame Prometheus stole has helped Mankind soar high. Renounce the wheel and Grail? What fool would even try? Why should we stigmatize a civilizing nation? Are haters willing to give up the English tongue? Remove advances from the grumbling population? Goodbye, DaVinci, Chaucer, Mozart, Einstein, Locke? Such nonsense! Promulgated by the shallow young Who do not see that this would then fuel segregation Of those who know and those who don’t but snidely mock And think the remedy is to turn back the clock. Ah well. St. Augustine. It’s here that Spain once sought The legendary fountain of eternal youth. It’s here at the Castillo, where the Spanish fought And thwarted pirates looting from the Caribbean. And now? Dive bars with deals on gin splashed with vermouth; Cheap tram and tour-boat rides; and tchotchkes highly sought; The “Oldest Jail” a site improbable to be in… All kitsch. Yet charming and still clearly European. The clouds are blackening. The storm has staked its path. The traffic swells with people fleeing. Locals speak Of little else but Nature’s unrelenting wrath— A colonizing force which threatens and encroaches. It tears down walls, floods rivers, swells or drowns each creek And alters lives in ways transcending complex math. But now is not the time for history’s reproaches. I need to hunker down. The hurricane approaches. . Poet’s Note St. Augustine, Florida—founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers—is the oldest continuously inhabited European established settlement in what is now the contiguous United States. The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years. It was designated as the capital of British East Florida when the colony was established in 1763; Great Britain returned Florida to Spain in 1783, which ceded it to the United States in 1819. Since the late 19th century, St. Augustine’s distinctive historical character—including the Castillo de San Marcos, the city’s 17th Century Spanish fort—has made it a magnet for numerous tourists. . . Brian Yapko is a retired lawyer whose poetry has appeared in over fifty journals. He is the winner of the 2023 SCP International Poetry Competition. Brian is also the author of several short stories, the science fiction novel El Nuevo Mundo and the gothic archaeological novel Bleeding Stone. He lives in Wimauma, Florida. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. ***Read Our Comments Policy Here*** 14 Responses Roy Eugene Peterson March 16, 2025 I remember a family visit to St. Augustine, which your poem brought back with detailed imagery and filled in the gaps or remembrance. You imbued this poem with a great historical perspective on the tides and times of the past occupiers which the ignorant think would still exist in some idyllic state in a modernized world. You mesmerizing epic cuts through the desiderata and appropriately chronicles the rise and fall of previous civilizations for which we should never feel guilt, but revel in present manifestation of what it has become. Reply Brian Yapko March 18, 2025 Thank you very much, Roy. I appreciate your position that “we should never feel guilt.” Leftist ideology and CRT are so invested in making white people feel guilty for things they never did. I have a strong antipathy for the concept of collective guilt against a people based on actions of those over whom they had no control. This especially involves the quagmire of guilt for historical events centuries after they occurred. California is apparently doubling down on the idea of reparations for slavery. A thought which has a form of brainless compassion at its core since we’re taking about forcing white people who never owned slaves (many of whoseancestors arrived in the U.S. well after 1865) n a state which never allowed slavery to pay large sums of money to black people who were never slaves, many of whose ancestors lived in Union territories and also were never slaves. So this is basically a wealth transfer based on race and with no rationality behind it. Leftists are full of good ideas. Reply Mark Stellinga March 16, 2025 What city of over 1,000,000 residents hasn’t dived into this sort of ‘cultural decline’, Brian, where historic reminders of both our better and, to some, embarrassing exploits as a developing nation have been toppled by the very sort of fools you rightly chastise with this excellent piece. We’ve never been there, but your graphic tale of its demise as a tourist destination serves as a warning of what to expect if we ever make it down there. An eye-opening piece in a rather tough rhyme scheme. Reply Brian Yapko March 18, 2025 Thank you very much, Mark. Cultural decline is what happens when a people stops valuing its culture. In fact, in the U.S. this has taken on the appearance of self-loathing as statues are destroyed and pro-terrorist ged into a form of self-loathing which appears to be ubiquitous in the West where historical cultures and differences have been deemed discredited by the mob. The only example I can think of which reflects a restoration of a meaningful cultural institution is the restoration of Notre Dame in Paris. And the only reason that has occurred is because it was much-damaged by fire. The West really is due for a Renaissance. Reply Joseph S. Salemi March 16, 2025 Our family took a vacation to Florida in 1955, and I remember my young delight in St. Augustine, and the walls and the antique cannon still on guard there, facing the sea. It was like stepping back into a history book, for a child. There’s all sorts of moral whining these days about the Spanish conquistadors, always from persons who have a deeply ingrained hatred of the West and Western culture. The plain fact is that every human group tends to be aggressive and predatory towards every other group within range, and that certainly included the American Indian tribes, who had no problem at all with attacking, enslaving, or exterminating whatever rival tribe gave them trouble, or sat on land that they coveted. The fantasy of “the noble savage,” pure and peace-loving, is nothing but Rousseauistic mythology. Without the European conquests of the Americas, the indigenous population would still be chipping flints as they sat around open fires. Reply Brian Yapko March 18, 2025 Thank you, Joe, for reading and commenting on this one. I wondered if my counterattack on the anti-colonists would strike a chord with you and am pleased to see that it did. You are quite right about the Indians of North America who were far from the utopian peace-lovers now presented by leftist historical revisionists. And Rousseau was a romantic moron. Let’s focus on one little change for the better that the Spanish Conquest rendered among the Indians of North America: Scholars today place the figure of human sacrifices among the Aztecs at between 20,000 and 250,000 per year. How many millions of lives were saved because Western culture (imperfect as it may be) offered a better way of worship and more evolved ethics? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture#:~:text=Many%20scholars%20today%20place%20the,performed%20in%20all%20of%20them. As for other aspects of colonialism, when a nation brings superior ideas and technology and arts and culture — a civilizing influence — this covers a multitude of sins. Especially when the risks are very high for a culture to not take advantage of technology and other advances that they are confronted with. The West damn well had to learn about gunpowder in late Medieval Times or they ran the risk of being overrun by that technology. Learn or perish. But this is not just about the technology of war. I personally feel the world is a better place because the Romans were in it. And the Spanish. And the British Empire. My view is much dimmer of those historical conquests by brutes who offered savagery and destruction rather than civilization. They caused nothing but diminishment and devolution to those they conquered. I won’t name names but I notice that the world culture leftists so prize as an ideal does not lift up brutality but, rather, brings civilization down to the level of the least common denominator. It is far easier to make civilized people revert to savagery than to have savages learn (or want) to be civilized. Reply Frank Rable March 16, 2025 As I read the poem, Brian, I sensed that you wished you had more time and less foolish distractions to properly explore the city for what it once was. But Florida is better than most, considering that much of it is a tourist destination. Your poem covered many of the things you might be inspired to reflect upon, but what I liked the most were the tourists who argued whether or not to flee the hurricane, and decided above all they needed their rest. It adds that little touch of modern day humanity. A perfect ending for your discussion of those who criticize what was done in the past from a twenty first century viewpoint. A Netflix movie or a community college history course does not a historian make. Reply Brian Yapko March 18, 2025 Thank you so much, Frank. That focus on “foolish distractions” is one which I hope put a spotlight on the risks of disrespecting your own culture’s patrimony. A grand and glorious history of Renaissance gets reduced to kitsch and camp. There is, I suppose, a certain inevitability to this. I remember visiting Rome and seeing men dressed as gladiators outside the Colosseum posing for the tourists. Or in Messina they sold Godfather T-shirts — pure camp. Or worse, T-shirts in Mexico that say “I left my heart in Teotihuacan.” It turns a profit and in the end, it probably does little harm — just as long as camp doesn’t devolve into contempt. Reply Julian D. Woodruff March 17, 2025 Brian, this is a truly remarkable reflection on Western civilization and reactive nihilistic attitudes. (Cage, once asked what he thought of Western civilization, responded, “It would be nice.”) We can gnash our teeth at such naysayers while still regretting the West’s (but not only the West’s) violent, and non-violent neglect, destruction, and desecration of its own inheritance. Thank you for an earnest, challenging poem. Reply Brian Yapko March 18, 2025 Thank you for this comment, Julian. I’m proud of Western civilization but recognize that it has many a flaw infused and attached. It is in some ways a victim of its own success for within the lofty ideals it has reached for are the seeds of its own destruction. The ideologies surrounding non-violence at any cost. The lie that all cultures are of equal historic value. The strange belief that all humans are entitled to equal outcome rather than equal opportunity. The idea that the West colonized because it was more venal and power-mad than other cultures rather than the simple idea that the West had better inventions, better navigation and philosophies and literature that were of objective value. The West has accepted without a whimper ideas like Math is inherently white-supremacist. Beethoven, too. A restoration of some instinct for self-preservation would probably be a good idea. Reply Brian Yapko March 17, 2025 Thank you, Roy, Mark, Joe, Frank and Julian for your generous remarks and insights into the subject of valuing Western civilization. Your generosity means a lot to me. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant March 17, 2025 Brian, this tour de force of a poem engages the reader on many levels with excellently written stanzas that pulse with human ambition, historical knowledge, and vivid imagery that makes the poem shine. There are so many aspects to concentrate on, I am hard pressed to know where to start and end in the confines of a comments box. This poem demands an essay! I love the way you use St. Augustine as a microcosm to highlight the friction between the past and present – man’s quest for power and nature’s threat. The way you weave the impending storm through the philosophical points you make is a clever and effective touch… most humbling. I like the bold way you tackle the subjects of colonialism through a non-apologetic lens. How refreshing. I am drawn to the lines: “Exploring is as human as to hunt and gather. / Should tribes be left in darkness when new light appears? / Condemned to live with human sacrifice and spears?” – a conversation missing from today’s studies. I like your poetic musings on the progress of civilization, and especially the tourism aspect – the magnificence of historic events reduced to “Pirate shows,” and “mermaids made of cork” is as enchanting as it is minimalizing and makes me think of my own attitude as a tourist. This is one of those gems of a poem that should be on every school curriculum for the masterly way its written and the analytical approach to subjects that beg for more than one viewpoint. Brian, well done and thank you very much indeed! Reply Brian Yapko March 17, 2025 I’m thrilled with this comment, Susan. Thank you so much for the detailed analysis and generous assessment. As usual, you grasp exactly what I was aiming to express regarding colonization and mining the approaching hurricane for its metaphoric possibilities. This is a semi-autobiographical poem. I was in St. Augustine when Hurricane Helene came barreling towards Florida last September. I had to cut my trip short to get home to Tampa. Hurricane preparations were everywhere and tourists were vacating. It was rather surreal — though nothing compared to Hurricane Milton which was to follow in less than two weeks and impact me most directly. Thank you again and for letting me share those personal details. Reply Brian Yapko March 18, 2025 Susan, I was unable to give your comment my full attention and feel that I left some things unsaid. First, I am so grateful for the kind words about the crafting of the poem. I experienced the looming approach of Hurricane Helene, but that was just a springboard here for some musings on the nature of civilization and questions about why the West — source of so much that is good in the world — has become so reviled. The hurricane and the woke mob seemed similarly destructive — and yet with a great likelihood of most things of value weathering the storm. I was concerned about the trivializing of Western culture and the way it has devolved for many into kitsch and camp — that Pirate show and the cork mermaid that you mention. I’m most grateful for your focus on the line “Exploring is as human as to hunt and gather.” That line got revised late in the game but now, for me, perfectly sums up the reality of what colonization is and why it is unavoidable. I do not refer to brute conquest (if you see my note to Joe above.) I despise the idea of brute conquest when civilization is NOT shared and when religion is forced by the sword. But I am very much on board with the idea of bringing ideas and literature and art and faith to those who do not have them. Would the haters seriously blast Albert Schweitzer for being a missionary? Do Mexicans hate the fact that the Virgin of Guadalupe made her appearance as a result of Spanish occupation? Or that human sacrifice was ended? And what would be the alternative? Have one nation be highly advanced but create the historical injustice of not sharing medical advances with a primitive neighbor because countries must stay segregated? Cultures must stay segregated? Tribes should be forever confined to reservations and museums? Do these people not see how untenable that is? How condescending it is? How racist it is? Civilization is meant to be shared. Maybe there are better ways of doing it than the Spanish and the English and the Romans and the Greeks and the Chinese and the Swedes. But what is in the past cannot be changed. It is foolish to think otherwise. Thank you again, Susan. I’m always grateful not just for your kind words but for the way you open the discussion up so that I can articulate certain ideas or history that underlie my work. Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Roy Eugene Peterson March 16, 2025 I remember a family visit to St. Augustine, which your poem brought back with detailed imagery and filled in the gaps or remembrance. You imbued this poem with a great historical perspective on the tides and times of the past occupiers which the ignorant think would still exist in some idyllic state in a modernized world. You mesmerizing epic cuts through the desiderata and appropriately chronicles the rise and fall of previous civilizations for which we should never feel guilt, but revel in present manifestation of what it has become. Reply
Brian Yapko March 18, 2025 Thank you very much, Roy. I appreciate your position that “we should never feel guilt.” Leftist ideology and CRT are so invested in making white people feel guilty for things they never did. I have a strong antipathy for the concept of collective guilt against a people based on actions of those over whom they had no control. This especially involves the quagmire of guilt for historical events centuries after they occurred. California is apparently doubling down on the idea of reparations for slavery. A thought which has a form of brainless compassion at its core since we’re taking about forcing white people who never owned slaves (many of whoseancestors arrived in the U.S. well after 1865) n a state which never allowed slavery to pay large sums of money to black people who were never slaves, many of whose ancestors lived in Union territories and also were never slaves. So this is basically a wealth transfer based on race and with no rationality behind it. Leftists are full of good ideas. Reply
Mark Stellinga March 16, 2025 What city of over 1,000,000 residents hasn’t dived into this sort of ‘cultural decline’, Brian, where historic reminders of both our better and, to some, embarrassing exploits as a developing nation have been toppled by the very sort of fools you rightly chastise with this excellent piece. We’ve never been there, but your graphic tale of its demise as a tourist destination serves as a warning of what to expect if we ever make it down there. An eye-opening piece in a rather tough rhyme scheme. Reply
Brian Yapko March 18, 2025 Thank you very much, Mark. Cultural decline is what happens when a people stops valuing its culture. In fact, in the U.S. this has taken on the appearance of self-loathing as statues are destroyed and pro-terrorist ged into a form of self-loathing which appears to be ubiquitous in the West where historical cultures and differences have been deemed discredited by the mob. The only example I can think of which reflects a restoration of a meaningful cultural institution is the restoration of Notre Dame in Paris. And the only reason that has occurred is because it was much-damaged by fire. The West really is due for a Renaissance. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi March 16, 2025 Our family took a vacation to Florida in 1955, and I remember my young delight in St. Augustine, and the walls and the antique cannon still on guard there, facing the sea. It was like stepping back into a history book, for a child. There’s all sorts of moral whining these days about the Spanish conquistadors, always from persons who have a deeply ingrained hatred of the West and Western culture. The plain fact is that every human group tends to be aggressive and predatory towards every other group within range, and that certainly included the American Indian tribes, who had no problem at all with attacking, enslaving, or exterminating whatever rival tribe gave them trouble, or sat on land that they coveted. The fantasy of “the noble savage,” pure and peace-loving, is nothing but Rousseauistic mythology. Without the European conquests of the Americas, the indigenous population would still be chipping flints as they sat around open fires. Reply
Brian Yapko March 18, 2025 Thank you, Joe, for reading and commenting on this one. I wondered if my counterattack on the anti-colonists would strike a chord with you and am pleased to see that it did. You are quite right about the Indians of North America who were far from the utopian peace-lovers now presented by leftist historical revisionists. And Rousseau was a romantic moron. Let’s focus on one little change for the better that the Spanish Conquest rendered among the Indians of North America: Scholars today place the figure of human sacrifices among the Aztecs at between 20,000 and 250,000 per year. How many millions of lives were saved because Western culture (imperfect as it may be) offered a better way of worship and more evolved ethics? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture#:~:text=Many%20scholars%20today%20place%20the,performed%20in%20all%20of%20them. As for other aspects of colonialism, when a nation brings superior ideas and technology and arts and culture — a civilizing influence — this covers a multitude of sins. Especially when the risks are very high for a culture to not take advantage of technology and other advances that they are confronted with. The West damn well had to learn about gunpowder in late Medieval Times or they ran the risk of being overrun by that technology. Learn or perish. But this is not just about the technology of war. I personally feel the world is a better place because the Romans were in it. And the Spanish. And the British Empire. My view is much dimmer of those historical conquests by brutes who offered savagery and destruction rather than civilization. They caused nothing but diminishment and devolution to those they conquered. I won’t name names but I notice that the world culture leftists so prize as an ideal does not lift up brutality but, rather, brings civilization down to the level of the least common denominator. It is far easier to make civilized people revert to savagery than to have savages learn (or want) to be civilized. Reply
Frank Rable March 16, 2025 As I read the poem, Brian, I sensed that you wished you had more time and less foolish distractions to properly explore the city for what it once was. But Florida is better than most, considering that much of it is a tourist destination. Your poem covered many of the things you might be inspired to reflect upon, but what I liked the most were the tourists who argued whether or not to flee the hurricane, and decided above all they needed their rest. It adds that little touch of modern day humanity. A perfect ending for your discussion of those who criticize what was done in the past from a twenty first century viewpoint. A Netflix movie or a community college history course does not a historian make. Reply
Brian Yapko March 18, 2025 Thank you so much, Frank. That focus on “foolish distractions” is one which I hope put a spotlight on the risks of disrespecting your own culture’s patrimony. A grand and glorious history of Renaissance gets reduced to kitsch and camp. There is, I suppose, a certain inevitability to this. I remember visiting Rome and seeing men dressed as gladiators outside the Colosseum posing for the tourists. Or in Messina they sold Godfather T-shirts — pure camp. Or worse, T-shirts in Mexico that say “I left my heart in Teotihuacan.” It turns a profit and in the end, it probably does little harm — just as long as camp doesn’t devolve into contempt. Reply
Julian D. Woodruff March 17, 2025 Brian, this is a truly remarkable reflection on Western civilization and reactive nihilistic attitudes. (Cage, once asked what he thought of Western civilization, responded, “It would be nice.”) We can gnash our teeth at such naysayers while still regretting the West’s (but not only the West’s) violent, and non-violent neglect, destruction, and desecration of its own inheritance. Thank you for an earnest, challenging poem. Reply
Brian Yapko March 18, 2025 Thank you for this comment, Julian. I’m proud of Western civilization but recognize that it has many a flaw infused and attached. It is in some ways a victim of its own success for within the lofty ideals it has reached for are the seeds of its own destruction. The ideologies surrounding non-violence at any cost. The lie that all cultures are of equal historic value. The strange belief that all humans are entitled to equal outcome rather than equal opportunity. The idea that the West colonized because it was more venal and power-mad than other cultures rather than the simple idea that the West had better inventions, better navigation and philosophies and literature that were of objective value. The West has accepted without a whimper ideas like Math is inherently white-supremacist. Beethoven, too. A restoration of some instinct for self-preservation would probably be a good idea. Reply
Brian Yapko March 17, 2025 Thank you, Roy, Mark, Joe, Frank and Julian for your generous remarks and insights into the subject of valuing Western civilization. Your generosity means a lot to me. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant March 17, 2025 Brian, this tour de force of a poem engages the reader on many levels with excellently written stanzas that pulse with human ambition, historical knowledge, and vivid imagery that makes the poem shine. There are so many aspects to concentrate on, I am hard pressed to know where to start and end in the confines of a comments box. This poem demands an essay! I love the way you use St. Augustine as a microcosm to highlight the friction between the past and present – man’s quest for power and nature’s threat. The way you weave the impending storm through the philosophical points you make is a clever and effective touch… most humbling. I like the bold way you tackle the subjects of colonialism through a non-apologetic lens. How refreshing. I am drawn to the lines: “Exploring is as human as to hunt and gather. / Should tribes be left in darkness when new light appears? / Condemned to live with human sacrifice and spears?” – a conversation missing from today’s studies. I like your poetic musings on the progress of civilization, and especially the tourism aspect – the magnificence of historic events reduced to “Pirate shows,” and “mermaids made of cork” is as enchanting as it is minimalizing and makes me think of my own attitude as a tourist. This is one of those gems of a poem that should be on every school curriculum for the masterly way its written and the analytical approach to subjects that beg for more than one viewpoint. Brian, well done and thank you very much indeed! Reply
Brian Yapko March 17, 2025 I’m thrilled with this comment, Susan. Thank you so much for the detailed analysis and generous assessment. As usual, you grasp exactly what I was aiming to express regarding colonization and mining the approaching hurricane for its metaphoric possibilities. This is a semi-autobiographical poem. I was in St. Augustine when Hurricane Helene came barreling towards Florida last September. I had to cut my trip short to get home to Tampa. Hurricane preparations were everywhere and tourists were vacating. It was rather surreal — though nothing compared to Hurricane Milton which was to follow in less than two weeks and impact me most directly. Thank you again and for letting me share those personal details. Reply
Brian Yapko March 18, 2025 Susan, I was unable to give your comment my full attention and feel that I left some things unsaid. First, I am so grateful for the kind words about the crafting of the poem. I experienced the looming approach of Hurricane Helene, but that was just a springboard here for some musings on the nature of civilization and questions about why the West — source of so much that is good in the world — has become so reviled. The hurricane and the woke mob seemed similarly destructive — and yet with a great likelihood of most things of value weathering the storm. I was concerned about the trivializing of Western culture and the way it has devolved for many into kitsch and camp — that Pirate show and the cork mermaid that you mention. I’m most grateful for your focus on the line “Exploring is as human as to hunt and gather.” That line got revised late in the game but now, for me, perfectly sums up the reality of what colonization is and why it is unavoidable. I do not refer to brute conquest (if you see my note to Joe above.) I despise the idea of brute conquest when civilization is NOT shared and when religion is forced by the sword. But I am very much on board with the idea of bringing ideas and literature and art and faith to those who do not have them. Would the haters seriously blast Albert Schweitzer for being a missionary? Do Mexicans hate the fact that the Virgin of Guadalupe made her appearance as a result of Spanish occupation? Or that human sacrifice was ended? And what would be the alternative? Have one nation be highly advanced but create the historical injustice of not sharing medical advances with a primitive neighbor because countries must stay segregated? Cultures must stay segregated? Tribes should be forever confined to reservations and museums? Do these people not see how untenable that is? How condescending it is? How racist it is? Civilization is meant to be shared. Maybe there are better ways of doing it than the Spanish and the English and the Romans and the Greeks and the Chinese and the Swedes. But what is in the past cannot be changed. It is foolish to think otherwise. Thank you again, Susan. I’m always grateful not just for your kind words but for the way you open the discussion up so that I can articulate certain ideas or history that underlie my work. Reply
