Empire...

[Itascapark]

"In the lives of emperors there is a moment which follows pride in the boundless extension of the territories we have conquered, and the melancholy and relief of knowing we shall soon give up any thought of knowing and understanding them…It is the desperate moment when we discover that this empire, which had seemed to us the sum of all wonders, is an endless, formless ruin, that corruption’s gangrene has spread too far to be healed by our scepter, that the triumph over enemy sovereigns has made us the heirs of their long undoing."

From Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities

I stumbled over this passage tonight, and felt a flush of recognition. Or maybe I’m just being cynical…

Comments?

[not systems]

1. wonderful line

I remember telling a friend who favored going to
war in Iraq that all it's problems would be ours as
soon as the dust settled.

It made no difference.

The idea that keeping others out of "rebuilding"
like France, Russia, and the UN was very stupid.
Some talking head said, "To the victor goes the
spoils", now we own the misery of Iraq and claim
it all for ourselfs.

If only the selected could feel what he has made us.

[Itascapark]

2. Yes...

I fear the problems are just starting...really no end in sight, and we're going to be paying for this (lives, taxes, education) for a very long, feckless time.