“The world cannot sit by and permit unchecked anarchy to jeopardize the cultural heritage of one of the world’s oldest, greatest and most inspiring civilizations. We echo the voices of all concerned citizens of the globe in imploring Egypt’s new government authorities, in building the nation’s future, to protect its precious past. Action needs to be taken immediately.”
Why do humans respect and treasure relics, buildings and monuments from the past more than we do the living beings in our midst?
That is a great point to bring up.
I like to think that when people state the importance of preserving their own history or heritage, they are incidentally preserving the history of civilization as a whole, and I feel that it is very important that we do not forget the past- not just in the sense that we may repeat it (e.g., "those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.") but it serves as a stark reminder that unfortunately, civilizations do have the ability to destroy themselves, and in the case of the Holocaust, entire countries can and have done unprecedented evil to another or to itself, and this has occurred so many times over the course of history.
If you take a look at my avatar- it's the statue of Ramsses II at Abu Simbel, that Ramsses built for himself, and to this day it sits forlorn and slowly crumpling to dust. Ramsses II was one of the last great pharaohs who raised Ancient Egypt to unprecedented heights in his unchecked hubris, and incidentally planted the final seed of destruction that caused this great civilization to destroy itself. I have him as my avatar as a reminder to never take oneself too seriously, because sooner or later, all things turn to dust.
Conservative history puts forth the idea that Ancient Egypt could not handle the successive invasion by the Assyrians, the Persians, and then by Alexander the Great (who ejected the Persians), and finally the Romans who broken their backs. But the truth is that Ancient Egypt self-destructed, and this destruction was well underway, around the time of the ascent of Amenhotep IV who changed his name to Akhenaten and instituted a series of bizarre changes, including religious suppression, and the institution of the one god belief- namely Aten. Then along came Ramesses II who build farther and wider than any other Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt, and engaged in constant warfare and immoral conduct (siring more than a hundred offsprings) ignoring the cost to the treasury and the religious schism that split the country apart and drove the gap between the rich and poor even wider.
Example: The Ancient Egyptian royalty were known for being incestuous and taking many mistresses, a lot of them barely mature, and polygamy was rampant- and there is a reason that this is illegal today, in our country and in this modern time. It's not just because it's morally corrupting- it's also socially destructive. There is a reason that we hold freedom of speech to be dear to us today, along with religious tolerance, and other values that are socially binding and constructive. Thankfully, our forefathers took their history lessons very seriously, and applied them diligently when they designed the backbone of this country, and the laws that were built consequently, over the course of 200 plus years.
And those are some of the examples of our "evolution."
One only needs to look at the back of a dollar bill to see the far-reaching influence of Ancient Egypt, to this day, and hopefully we won't forget that in a hurry. Ancient Egypt lasted around 5,000 years before being destroyed. We've only been a country for 235 years and we've been to the brink once or twice (e.g., The Cuban Missile Crisis). Hopefully we'll last a little longer if we keep the stark reminder that civilizations indeed have the ability to destroy themselves and have done so- and perhaps with that in mind, we would not act so rashly or with ill-will towards our fellow citizens, or another country.
And so you have, as you call them- 'relics, buildings, and monuments' which are reminders of "what once was" and sometimes that can speak louder than words in a history book would.
