Alex

“What he knew, he knew from books, and books lied, they made things prettier.”
― Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

“Die letzte Epoche der Utopie hat begonnen, und wie alle Ressourcen wird auch die Zukunft knapp. Am Ende aller Berechnungen ist sie eben keine gänzlich unbekannte mehr. Was kommt, kommt dann nicht als Utopie, sondern als Spekulationsobjekt der Realpolitik, und da die wahren Paradiese ohnehin jene sind, die wir verloren haben, stellen sich viele diese ideale Zukunft schon vor als die Wiederkehr des Vergangenen oder schlicht als Erlösung. So gesehen hat die alte Zukunft keine Zukunft.”
― Roger Willemsen, Wer wir waren

“He experienced the singular pleasure of watching people he loved fall in love with other people he loved.”
― Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life

“A student once asked anthropologist Margaret Mead, “What is the earliest sign of civilization?” The student expected her to say a clay pot, a grinding stone, or maybe a weapon.

Margaret Mead thought for a moment, then she said, “A healed femur.”

A femur is the longest bone in the body, linking hip to knee. In societies without the benefits of modern medicine, it takes about six weeks of rest for a fractured femur to heal. A healed femur shows that someone cared for the injured person, did their hunting and gathering, stayed with them, and offered physical protection and human companionship until the injury could mend.

Mead explained that where the law of the jungle—the survival of the fittest—rules, no healed femurs are found. The first sign of civilization is compassion, seen in a healed femur.”
― Ira Byock