Should this be our goal? Really?

A friend of mine cross posted that to Facebook today -- this in the form of someone's "tweet."

My "goal," the original 'tweeter' seems to suggest, should be to get to know him. His history. His culture. His gifts.

Now this individual may have a lot to offer me. I do not know him, or anything about him -- his gifts or his accomplishments --  so I cannot say.  But what comes to my mind -- is this unusual? -- is something else...  It is that this person, or his ancestors, like my own, came to the Western World. -The world that gave us the pure sciences and understanding such as mankind never had known or  benefitted from before -this from medicine and microbiology through microchips and all the way up to space travel.

That I now had access, via these people, to a culture like no other. One that gave us such as the plays and sonnets of Shakespeare, and the music of Bach and Mozart and Brahms and Beethoven.

That from these people -- and now, via them, available to me -- are works of art in every medium. Paintings, for instance, that range all they way from Rubens and Rembrandt through Chagall and beyond. 

That THEY gave us -- all mankind -- Ideas and philosophies of  justice and law that moved the human experience from daily experienced barbarity to an entirely new plain -- and this not just for the few, but for the many.

These are all here -- part of a culture my family (and I expect his) in a sense has "joined.'  A culture and a history truly like none other. 

If I have some obligation -- what the tweeter says should be my "goal" -- that of being "educated"  -- of growing in my understanding as well as my appreciation -- well, does not he?

How's deep I wonder is his appreciation (and knowledge) of any of these things?

Of "history"?

Or of the beauty and goodness of the world that had laid the foundation for the one that he and I are now living in -- must live in! -- yes, along with millions and millions of other men and women.

I do, yes, have much yet to learn.  And respect for the dignity of every person certainly should (and does) play a part in this.

But when it comes to learning?   My "goal" should be to see and appreciate his beauty?  His history? His culture? Really? 

Why?

No, I think it quite the other way around.

That there is much learning to be done.  From those that came before us here.  That it is their treasures I am obligated to learn from and to more greatly  appreciate. Not his


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