Thankful

On this day, I am thankful in a way that history puts in perspective. Three quotations:

From William Manchester, A World Lit Only By Fire, on life in medieval Europe:
“Because most peasants lived and died without leaving their birthplace, there was seldom need for any tag beyond One-Eye, or Roussie (Redhead), or Bionda (Blondie), or the like.
“Their villages were frequently innominate for the same reason. If war took a man even a short distance from a nameless hamlet, the chances of his returning to it were slight; he could not identify it, and finding his way back alone was virtually impossible. Each hamlet was inbred, isolated, unaware of the world beyond the most familiar local landmark: a creek, or mill, or tall tree scarred by lightning. There were no newspapers or magazines to inform the common people of great events; occasional pamphlets might reach them, but they were usually theological and, like the Bible, were always published in Latin, a language they no longer understood” (pp. 21-22).

From Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror:
“Difficulty of empathy, of genuinely entering into the mental and emotional values of the Middle Ages, is the final obstacle. The main barrier is, I believe, the Christian religion as it then was: the matrix and law of medieval life, omnipresent, indeed compulsory. Its insistent principle that the life of the spirit and of the afterworld was superior to the here and now, to material life on earth, is one that the modern world does not share, no matter how devout some present day Christians may be. The rupture of this principle and its replacement by belief in the worth of the individual and of an active life not necessarily focused on God is, in fact, what created the modern world and ended the Middle Ages” (p. xix).

From Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy:
“In the Middle Ages … [m]an was conscious of himself only as a member of a race, people, party, family, or corporation—only through some general category. In Italy this veil first melted into air; an objective treatment and consideration of the state and of all the things of this world became possible. The subjective side at the same time asserted itself with corresponding emphasis; man became a spirited individual, and recognized himself as such” (p. 70).

I am thankful to be an individual, to be living in the modern world, and to be able to enjoy its wonders — good food and plenty for me and those I care about, safe travel to exotic places and home again, books and music and art and conversation with the many active-minded and free-thinking people living vital lives.

(And of course for the Internet.)

Happy Thanksgiving.