Quote:
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Originally Posted by Not Afraid
(can I even realistically use that word?).
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Is there culture in the US?
Yes Lisa there is still culture in America and while many may question that idea, they have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age.
"They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Lisa, whether they be men's or children's, are little.
"In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of gasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
"Yes, Lisa, there is culture in America. It exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no culture.
There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Culture! You might as well not believe in fairies.
"The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in this world.
"You tear apart the baby's rattle to see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart.
"Only faith, poetry, love, romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Lisa, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
"No culture? Thank God there is. A thousand years from now, Lisa, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, American culture will continue to make glad the heart of humainity."