Going Back
I’m sitting in the bookstore, coffee shop closed for the holiday, not cool. Well, actually it is. Important to allow people time off, not forced to sacrifice in order to serve others who are privileged enough to have options. The holiday in question, Thanksgiving, the beginning of the holiday season here. Snow has been on the ground, visible only in crevices shielded from the soft rays, melting away, a brief respite, the next storms soon to make their presence felt.
Entering the main gate, the iconic Golden Dome rising majestically above skeletoned branches framing its path. No doubt a lot of thought in the design, the grandeur. We’re big on grandeur, makes us feel special? Either way, it’s impressive, one I’ve enjoyed witnessing for the past years as a parent of a, now graduated, Notre Dame student.
Didn’t think I’d be back once he was through. Turned out not to be the case. I was back the first summer after graduation to see him perform in the Shakespeare Festival, revived post-Covid phase whatever. Friends made along the way, friends worth making a trip for, I find myself here once again at this institution, an institution in all its defined glory.
in·sti·tu·tionˌ instəˈt(y)o͞oSH(ə)n/ noun
- a society or organization founded for a religious, educational, social, or similar purpose.
“a certificate from a professional institution”
2. an established law, practice, or custom.
“the institution of marriage”
The architecture, 19th Century Modern Gothic, drab in both shape and color, dark steep slate roofs, tan brick facades. By design too, in deference to the Dome, Basilica? As snow, so too they fade, our minds taken to more pressing issues. It’s a specialty of our brain, save cycles for those things it deems more relevant. Once surroundings have been absorbed, no need to pay them any mind. We are accepting creatures, easily led.
I wondered how things would be post-Covid. Would we have learned something, anything, take the opportunity to reassess, make changes, or would it be a mad dash back to the status quo? Sadly the latter appears to, not surprisingly, have prevailed.
Dislodging an institution, 19th Century or more recent, a formidable, possibly futile, endeavor. I’d add ‘entrenched’ to the definition. Do we need them to exist, do they not serve a higher purpose? We have, in short order, created many, our civilization underpinned by man-made bed-rocks. There has to be a better way. The advances we continue to make, will they set us free, alternately further imprison?
The sky, a crystal clear bright vibrant blue, I feel the briskness in the air. For me this is exciting. I don’t live here, never had the pleasure of living in ‘real’ weather. Like differences in language, does climate make us think, behave differently, contribute to our inability to reach consensus?
I contend many want manacles cast off, never to return. Question is, are we too late?
