Our Lady of Paris
Bought from a Paris street artist in the spring of 1997
When I was almost 12, I learned about what I consider to be one of the most tragic events in history – the burning of the library of Alexandria. I am always reading. I spent my allowance money growing up on books. I won every summer library reading program I participated in. I read during class if I was bored in school. When I heard a library full of ancient manuscripts had burned, my heart broke.
What knowledge did we lose? What advancements, cures, observations were lost in heat and flames to fall as ash on the sea? The 40,000-400,000 scrolls were lost around 48 BC as a casualty of war – a fire was started by the Romans to burn Egyptian ships and it got out of hand.
My heartbreak over the burning of Notre Dame in Paris on April 15, 2019, reminded me of the great library of Alexandria and how we, as humans, crave those things that tell our history – our story. A library, a book, a church, a statue are all just things, but the represent so much that speaks to every soul.
We want to know our story – our place in this world. We do not all seek fame, but we all seek to be remembered in some way. Notre Dame was the place for 850 years where people got married, baptized babies, cried tears of grief and worshipped God. It is part of their stories. Others have gone to see the wonder of a building that took 100 years to build and felt the centuries of the past echo with each footstep.
We crave markers, memorials – not just tombstones – to show us where we have been, what we have survived and what we can hope for our future. Buildings, books, art and architecture are all dreams come to life and speak to our entire human story.
Take the time to share your stories, build your markers and chase your dreams. As we each reach forward, we create new chapters in humanity’s story of life on this beautiful planet.
Let’s rebuild what we can when things crumble. Let’s remember what we can of what is lost. Let’s respect the history we all share. Let’s reach out to each other and reach to catch our dreams.