[Trombone-l] Civilizations (was: WBEZ-CHICAGO PLANS TO PHASE OUT MUSIC)

[Ken Barnes]

"George Carr" <georgecarr at gmail.com> wrote:

<<I seem to have read about people  complaining
about the decline of civilization since ... civilization
 started.>>

You certainly have, just as they've forever complained
about the 'younger generation' and how that younger
generation was going to be the ruin of society, to which
(as you've done, moreor less) someone has always
retorted that such complaints had obtained since the
days of the Egyptian Dynasties or the Roman Empire...

...to which observation the complainer usually has no
answer.

But, then,  I've always wondered why no-one
would just ask, "Well, just exactly where *are* the Egyptian
Dynasties or the Roman Empire these days?"

Fact is, the word should not be "civilization," but
"civilization*s*", plural.

 And civilizations DO decline.

<<Was there really some actual time/place when
everybody held  open each other's doors and smiled
warmly at each other all the time?>>

If we insist on the absolutist "everyone," then the
answer is, obviously,  "no."

But...

<< Just trying to keep things in persepctive ...>>

...there certainly have been times and places where
things were better than they have been in recent
years and way better than where we seem to be headed.
Far, far better, in fact, where more folks did open doors
for strangers, tip their hats (which would be taken off
indoors), guard their language in public... and *not*
wear t-shirts emblazoned with such profound observations
as "Sh*t Happens," or drive around with their car
stereos rattling the windows of their neighbors homes,
just a couple of modern-day practices transparently
designed to bruise the sensitivities of the "uncool."

Civilizations DO decline.

Trombone content: Surely, alas, there will come a day
when there's no place to play one.

kb
(...counted among the uncool)






----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George Carr" <georgecarr at gmail.com>
To: <thetubameister at adelphia.net>
Cc: <trombone-l at server5.samford.edu>; <tjonz42 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 1:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] WBEZ-CHICAGO PLANS TO PHASE OUT MUSIC


> On 4/13/06, thetubameister at adelphia.net <thetubameister at adelphia.net> 
> wrote:
>> Too true - a decline in basic civility.  And it is equally true in art as 
>> well.
>
> Just exactly when was this Golden Age when 'basic civility' was
> commonplace and rarely ignored?  I seem to have read about people
> complaining about the decline of civilization since ... civilization
> started.  Was there really some actual time/place when everybody held
> open each other's doors and smiled warmly at each other all the time?
>
> Just trying to keep things in persepctive ...
>
> George
>
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