Cultural Values

Sorry to those reading this blog that I did not post yesterday. I took the day off, like every other person in Warsaw, and likely Europe for that matter. Today I visited "Old Town" or in Polish, "Stare Miasto." This is both the city's geographical and cultural center.

Rebuilt to reflect its historical foundation and architecture, it stands as another win in the fight against the detrimental history of Poland during World War II and after.

Leveled and left to crumble, Warsaw has seen its fair share of shelling. But as industrious as the Poles are, no amount of Shelling could stop their determination in rebuilding this culturally critical section of the city. I will post pictures later as I of course, forgot my camera when heading there today.

On another note, while riding the Tram back to the apartment I am staying in, I noticed two reliefs, flanking the entrance to a building on one of the main streets in Warsaw. Again, without my camera, I can only describe the relief, more importantly, explicate on the meaning of the reliefs.

To the right of the entrance stood tall a Polish man wearing a military uniform. Although not bearing any weapons, at least ostensibly, the look on his face was one of duty, faith, and a prerogative to protect and preserve.

To the left stood a woman with a child at her hip. The woman, holding a tablet and writing device, was minding the child at her hip. Her hair was in a bun, if I recall correctly and she was wearing a very traditional dress (almost a sun dress, really, but with shoulders and short sleeves).

Conclusions, though not unique (and that's a good thing) to Poland, it is certainly not outside of logic to assume these three cultural values: duty (honor), family (children), and education (cultural growth). Duty being entirely reflected in the soldier while the latter two resting with the woman and child.

I guess all I can really think about is how our relief, say, outside of perhaps the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis, would look? What values would we try to reflect in our relief? Would we decide to separate the man and the woman, place the child with the man instead? And would the man have to be in military garb, or should we place a standard suit on him?

It's just nice to be reminded that many cultures in the world still hold dear the values of education, family, honor, etc. And not to say we don't. I just haven't seen artwork of that nature very often.