Today’s quote initially had me thinking of the changes people experience throughout their lives and how they respond to them. But on this day after the fire at the Notre Dame cathedral, it also got me thinking about the changes an iconic place like that experiences throughout its long and proud history. In the nearly 8 centuries since Notre Dame was built, it has inspired civic and religious pride, been witness to many historic events, and been a backdrop to countless lives. You could see much of that in the faces that watched the fire’s destruction, hear it in the voices that spoke of that building’s importance, and feel it in people’s reactions to the tragedy. Now, after nearly 800 years, it must prepare to start nearly over, rebuilding its structure and its place. Amazingly, CNN reported that the first firemen to enter the burned structure after containing the flames took pictures of candles inexplicably still burning in the midst of all that destruction: that story and image make me believe that Notre Dame has the strength and will to start all over again. That’s something we can all be proud of today.
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896 – 1940): American fiction writer, whose works helped to illustrate the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age
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