We Were Here…The Human Need for Recognition
There was a story released the last couple of days about how archaeologists stumbled upon an ancient cemetery in the Sahara Desert. This Stone Age graveyard sheds light on the great mystery when the great Sahara desert was lush and green, when civilizations dwelled on the edges of it waters. One such article was in the Los Angeles Times.
Yes, the Sahara was underwater. And green. The Waters came during monsoon season, especially. There among the bodies were tools, fishing gear, harpoons and other stuff to reveal the once verdant Sahara. There were the remains of 6-foot-long, 300 pound Nile Perch. So with fish that large and people on the edge of the waters, you would have to assume the reality of Lakeside property. Whether the property was divided into sub-tracts and McMansions will remain one of the desert mysteries.
Discoveries are made every day. But the thing about this one that was so striking was the grave of a woman and two children, all with their fingers entwined. There they were, buried on their sides, together for all eternity. Obviously, they didn’t die in that position. Someone had the position the three bodies, my guess a mother and her two children, so that their fingers were entwined in what looks like a take off of an urban handshake.
What is remarkable of evidence not just of a civilization, but people’s eternal and inherent need for recognition. We as humans strive for recognition. Be it fabulous monuments, cave paintings or even graffiti on the side of a bridge, we must find acknowledgment that once upon a time we existed. It’s pretty remarkable really. It is our way of attempting to deal with our finite selves in relation to an infinite universe. We were here.
Whether it matters in the long run become an entirely different issue. Schools of thought debate it and will continue to debate what largely amounts to the meaning of existence as long as we truly are on the planet. It is a heated debate in certain sectors and regardless of the mythical final conclusion, it is one worth having. But here as throughout all human history, we find the markers of our existence and in this case the identifiers of humanity. A mother with hands entwined with her two children tells us not only that they existed, but they cared about each other. There was life and there was love.
