This week marked a very sad ten-year-anniversary. In 2001, two beautiful 6th-century standing buddhas carved into a cliff-side in the Bamiyan valley (a lovely region of central Afghanistan) were destroyed by the Taliban, who were seeking to eliminate all pre-Islamic and "idolatrous" artifacts from the country.
When it happened, I don't think the magnitude of this loss, in cultural, religious, and historical terms, registered with me. (I was thirteen at the time.) Now it makes me want to cry every time I think about it. The buddhas, which once overlooked an ancient monastery, survived over 1,500 years of natural wear & tear, war, and several invasions, only to be destroyed by some assholes with dynamite out of of sheer cruel small-mindedness.
There has been a movement, both within Afghanistan and around the globe, to reconstruct these statues. UNESCO is meeting in Paris this week to discuss the future of the site, i.e. whether to rebuild or simply preserve what is left. Here's the story.
I can't decide whether or not I think rebuilding them is a good idea. At first, I'm all for it. But then I think that maybe leaving these empty spaces in the cliffs, like scars, would serve as a reminder to us all of the absolute finality of the losses suffered in religious conflicts. These beautiful statues were casualties in an wide, tragic, and still-raging war on religious tolerance. Maybe they could be rebuilt, but it wouldn't be the same. And, lest we forget, human lives certainly cannot be reconstructed.
Okay, it is a Saturday night - Enough sad realities. Time to relax and have some fun. Hope you have a good one, too.
