Althouse: A Paris prayer.

November 14, 2015

A Paris prayer.

(Photo taken, 10 years ago, by my son John, at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.)

14 comments:

mccullough said...: Tourism will suffer; 11/14/15, 10:39 AM
JAFC said...: On our second trip to Paris (2011) my wife and I got to the hotel before check-in time. We dropped our bags and walked to that very cemetery. The combination of beauty, history, jet-lag, and a lack of sleep made it wonderful and overwhelming at the same time.; 11/14/15, 10:41 AM
bleh said...: Paris is not really my cup of tea, but it is hard to deny the city's beauty and historical significance. Every time I go it seems more and more sterile, like a Disney-style French experience is being put on for Americans and other foreigners.

And yet there is also a radicalized Arab underclass that is growing each year.

What does this mean for France?

My take is that France isn't that France that it used to be. It is changing, and has been changing for generations. As a matter of demographics, France will continue to change.

The disconnect between the French "experience" and the French reality will eventually have to be addressed. France can choose now what its future should look like. To what extent will France become more Arab? France already tries to legislate its cultural supremacy but that only works if you have enough public support for squashing minority cultures.

I bet Le Pen enjoys a surge in popularity.; 11/14/15, 11:01 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "On our second trip to Paris (2011) my wife and I got to the hotel before check-in time. We dropped our bags and walked to that very cemetery. The combination of beauty, history, jet-lag, and a lack of sleep made it wonderful and overwhelming at the same time."

That made me think of the cemetery scene in "Easy Rider." The mind-altering there was done not with sleep deprivation, but LSD.

Cemeteries are, all by themselves, mind altering.; 11/14/15, 11:13 AM
Michael K said...: When I visited that cemetery with three teenaged girls they wanted to see Jim Morrison's tomb, which is a big teenager attraction. I looked at other tombs of more notable people.; 11/14/15, 11:13 AM
Ann Althouse said...: We have 2 cemeteries near where we live, and often our path through town takes us along the road that separates them, which is called Speedway (as if to force us to think of the shortness of life).; 11/14/15, 11:14 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "I looked at other tombs of more notable people."

And then there are the less notable, the Benzis.; 11/14/15, 11:15 AM
n.n said...: Tomb of the Unknown Baby.; 11/14/15, 11:22 AM
Sofa King said...: I just recently stayed at an apartment very close to that cemetery. But, like most cemeteries, while it's a fascinating place to visit I wouldn't want to live there.; 11/14/15, 11:37 AM
pm317 said...: Old historical cemeteries are an art to themselves. I had to take care of my oldest brother after he died in Toronto. The St. James cemetery where he was cremated and his ashes were laid to rest is beautiful.; 11/14/15, 11:52 AM
jacksonjay said...: God be with the French people.

Amen; 11/14/15, 12:30 PM
Fernandinande said...: Sofa King said...
But, like most cemeteries, while it's a fascinating place to visit I wouldn't want to live there.

I heard that people were dying to get in.; 11/14/15, 12:45 PM
traditionalguy said...: Our last trip into France was for a Cemetery Tour. It overlooked Omaha Beach next to Pointe du Hoc's shell torn concrete Bunkers.; 11/14/15, 3:15 PM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: That photo is insulting to Islam.; 11/14/15, 3:20 PM