It's back.
This week the Sarasota Ballet season started and so, too, the opera. And the museums have new exhibitions. And the Rolling Stones played Tampa. Big talent, big production values, lots of thought, lots of care, lots of emotions all on display, all available for anyone interested.
Together they’re called culture. And culture is what makes a civilization civilized. It’s always there in a variety of forms, unappreciated by some, ignored by many. But it’s there. And it opens windows in our brains and our hearts and our souls.
It’s worth it. It’s necessary. It’s lasting and it can’t be cancelled. Delayed yes, cancelled no. And the COVID responses of many of these cultural touchstones, have already proven that again.
Bad taste can be dismissed on an individual basis, insults and injuries can be reproached on a personal basis. Never completely cancelled because they always echo in the distance.
There’s a difference between culture – the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively – and attention getting, ego driven sociopathic actions. It’s a good thing, I think, to explore the first for its inspirational possibilities and value, and consider the second from a safe distance to truly decide if it’s worth all the drama.
If you really want drama, try Netflix or Masterpiece Theater – big talent, big production values, lots of thought, lots of care, lots of emotions all on display, all available for anyone interested.
A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.
– Mahatma Gandhi