‘Why depart from the good old way which has kept us in quiet, peace, and harmony—everyone living under his own vine and fig tree, and none to make him afraid? Why leave the road of experience, which has satisfied us all and made us all happy, to take this new way . . . of which we have no experience? --Nathaniel Macon of NCThe whole 20th century was a horrible time for the friends of tradition: the mild rule of Europe’s Christian monarchs – Habsburgs, Romanovs, and others – was replaced by the ruthless Communists and later the despotism of the European Union, amongst other totalitarian ‘isms’; Mao overthrew Confucius in China; the natural rhythms of the agrarian life in many places of the world were overwhelmed and driven out by the increasingly artificial and fast-paced urban life (if one may call it that) centered around the new holy trinity of ‘science, technology, and industry’, in Wendell Berry’s words; total war destroyed much else; etc.
World War II, however, seems to have been a watershed in this process of the destruction of tradition, for after that war the naming of generations begins, something unheard of before. The list goes something like this:
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southern culture is a wonderful thing indeed. southern humor is even better. like a tootsie pop. the long slow effort rewarded in the end with the delicious tasty center.
ReplyDeleteGood description.
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