The story goes that while giving a lecture on the origins of civilization, the prominent cultural anthropologist Dr. Margaret Mead was asked what the earliest sign of a real civilization was. Her research focused heavily on developing societies and cultural attitudes, and the student was curious to know if she’d seen any patterns that could predict a cohesive, successful society.
In answer to the question, reportedly Dr. Mead hoisted a bone high over her head: a 15,000-year-old femur, the longest bone in the human body, fractured and healed halfway down its length.
(Gotta appreciate a cultural anthropologist with a flair for the dramatic…)
This, she said, was the earliest sign of a true civilization. In ancient times, breaking such an important bone would have been a death sentence—unable to walk, unable to hunt, unable to defend oneself from predators, an individual so afflicted would simply have died, likely within a matter of a few weeks.
But the existence of a healed bone, she went on, tells a different story. It tells us that the person lived.
The fact that they lived meant that someone must have taken time to care for the injured person. Someone watched over and protected them. Someone set aside food from the hunt to feed them. Someone afforded the opportunity they needed to recover and get back on their feet.
In other words, John, the earliest sign of a true civilization is not great cities or elaborate divisions of labor or record-keeping. No, the earliest sign of civilization is community. Neighbors standing together, caring for each other, and helping out their community when they’re down.
Humankind didn’t evolve to have sharp claws or great speed or warm fur: we evolved to have each other.
If we want our civilization to be successful, we have to embrace community. We have to invest in each other. The North Carolina I grew up in was a place where we did that, and it’s a place where I believe we can do that again. If we do, then a whole lot of our neighbors will have the opportunity they need to recover and get back on their feet.
And if we don’t, well, more and more of our neighbors will get left behind..
John, this campaign is about our communities. We need a government that is going to help us in the work of community-building, that is going to use its great resources to invest in our people and help us make each other’s lives better instead of standing in the way. Our State Treasurer is the gatekeeper for so much of our capacity to make change—their office controls what infrastructure our municipalities can afford, controls what kinds of businesses benefit from the investment of the state pension fund, controls whether or not our state’s public employees will be able to retire and age with dignity.
And I really need your help if we’re going to be able to take back the Treasurer’s office and use that power to create good in our communities.
