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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and the
Yes, caring for others--is so important. I had seen this many moons ago but had forgotten it.
Great reminder
@DJM549845319274
"Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.
But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said."
👉We are at our best when we serve others. Be civilized.
Link to tweet
One of my favorite Margaret Mead quotes:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Children must be taught how to think, not what to think. ~ Margaret Mead
Link to tweet
dchill
(38,612 posts)"Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts," Mead said.
bhikkhu
(10,726 posts)"before then, if you didn't hunt, you didn't eat!" Or something like that.
CrispyQ
(36,561 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(22,515 posts)But when Mead was asked directly in an interview, When does a culture become a civilization?, her documented response was very different. Looking at the past, Mead replied, we have called societies civilizations when they have had great cities, elaborate division of labor, some form of keeping records. These are the things that have made civilization.
(snip)
Finally, the very concept of civilization or a civilized society in the anecdote is problematicand most contemporary anthropologists would not take it for granted without interrogation.
Many of us may think of altruistic kindness as one of the best and most natural attributes of humanity. Thats why the quote, Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, was bound to go viralwhether or not Mead said it. However, this statement glosses over the violent ways that the very concept of civilization itself was used by colonial powers to subjugate savages and primitive societies. Moreover, our species has arguably done more harmincluding to the planet itselfthan any other species.
Tactical Peek
(1,213 posts)For certain at least, she never wrote it down.
Ponietz
(3,069 posts)They nursed their sick and injured back to health. Look it up.
Bayard
(22,228 posts)Should be inscribed on every school and library.
et tu
(956 posts)are invaluable without them we judge by
bias and prejudice~
keithbvadu2
(37,041 posts)TX GOP opposed critical thinking skills in school.
https://truthout.org/articles/texas-gop-declares-no-more-teaching-of-critical-thinking-skills-in-texas-public-schools/
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181381120
Texas GOP Declares: No More Teaching of Critical Thinking Skills in Texas Public Schools
-----
The company is moving across the Texas prairie, taking down traditional public schools like locusts consuming wheat fields. Keeping with the Republican platform, they promise to make obedience training and anti-intellectualism the cornerstone and foundation of education in Texas, to the detriment of students and society.
I think they later recanted that position.
et tu
(956 posts)but betcha the intent is still the same!
thanks for the links~
Prairie_Seagull
(3,348 posts)but being civil should be associated with civilization. From the start was this a definitional thing?
Martin68
(22,957 posts)ananda
(28,903 posts)Kick
Ping Tung
(781 posts)The one who recovered would be labeled a lazy Welfare Queen who was stealing their taxes.
So say the MAGATs
LudwigPastorius
(9,257 posts)a man said, "We don't have to run faster than the saber-toothed tiger. We just have to run faster than broken legged Bob."
Dave Bowman
(1,895 posts)Warpy
(111,447 posts)and rather bought into Rousseau's "noble savage" a little too much, but she was dead right about this one.
In the rest of land species we share this planet with, a broke leg means certain death, even though some critters like canids and felines can do fine on 3 legs. Instead, they will remain where they are, waiting to die of dehydration, starvation, or predation.
We're the only species organized enough to put a broken limb into anatomical position and brace it until it heals, while supporting ther person who is injured by bringing him or her a share of the food. No other creature we know of does that.
I_UndergroundPanther
(12,507 posts)And sometimes thier caring crosses species.
Sometimes animals are more civilized than we are. Anyone who has been privileged to be loved by a cat knows this.
My cat Othello literally saved my life and rescued me from a stupor when I had undiagnosed diabetes by jumping repeatedly on my chest with all 4 paws until I got conscious enough to realize something bad was wrong with me and dial 911. He kept me awake until the ambulance people knocked on my door I was passing in and out of consciousness and Othello kept sniffing my breath, he could smell the ketones, in his own way he diagnosed me too. Now he taught himself to alert me with his dewclaw grab to force me to pay attention to him then he smells my breath and every time he does this my sugar levels are off.
Othello is a very handsome polite and civilized tuxy boy that I would walk through raging fire and take a bullet for.
NickB79
(19,298 posts)By that standard, a wide swath of the GOP is completely uncivilized.
malaise
(269,282 posts)Rec