Respect for Great History

In the chapter “Ozymandias Slept Here,” Tony Horwitz travels to the sites of the pyramids in Egypt and admires their magnificence. “I buried my head in a guidebook: 455 feet tall, for 4500 years the tallest edifice in the world.” (p.83) Pyramids are more than 4,500 years old. The technology of Egypt at that time was simply amazing. The Pyramids’ geometry resembles perfection in many aspects. Unfortunately, as Tony tells us in the chapter, the country of Egypt has the right to do whatever it wants to do with the Pyramids like preserving and taking care of it. Unfortunately, the rights also include destroying it. Many of the Arabic countries’ civilization flourished a long time ago. The remains of these amazing societies should be taken care of, which are not only in Egypt, but also all over the Middle East. On the news, one can occasionally hear the stories about the damages done to the great, valuable structures in the Middle East because of the wars and the overbearing firepower all around the remnants. One cannot easily imagine accidentally shooting down the Roman amphitheaters or the Buckingham Palace. Just like how we value our and European (where the majority of us come from) history and its remnants, it is necessary to respect the Arabic history. It is in fact painful to hear about warring enemies break down the beautiful ancient structures that represent the countries’ glorious history. If we all had more respect for their history and put more effort to learn about the value of it as we do ours, wouldn’t there be less violence and disrespect outside the boundaries of military combats?

SL