If only stones were left...

If only carved stones and a small handful of important books were left, how would our monuments and books speak for us? How would future explorers be able to understand who we were?

Our stone monuments are descriptive of our history, but do not indicate much about our present culture. The Washington, Lincoln, Vietnam memorials, Mt Rushmore, and other pieces of art, like statues of hearts scattered around San Francisco or on campus, statues of founders and in random places throughout the country demonstrate more how we commemorate people of importance, and appreciate art than say much about our cultures. Assuming that paint will chip and many books that are more demonstrative of the fine-tunings of our society will be lost, it is up to these epic works of stone to convey as much as they can. But, because the epic pieces are of men--statues of men, memorials of men, names of men, the future explorers who find our ruins will likely infer that we value men in our society. Assuming the explorers can decipher our writings, due to the names on the Vietnam memorial, the Washington memorial, etc. they will see that men were the warriors, that they held positions of power. They will not find an epic stone memorial dedicated to women. While it is true that men hold most powerful positions, it is also true that women have a great deal of influence in today's world and evolving society and culture. So, it is clear that the explorers would not get a true understanding of the society we have today, but rather a hazy view of where we started as a country.

However, it is probably unfair to say that they would not understand anything about our culture in the US. It is true that our country has patriarchal roots. It is true that men have been warriors much more so than women. It is true that we value innovative people who come up with ideas, those who start companies and become successful entrepreneurs. So, if the explorers could read the placards that accompany many statues, they would be able to understand the title and reason for the statue to commemorate said person.

However, at the crux of things, our monuments hardly represent the true personality of US culture, and certainly not that of California culture. As time has worn on, we have set fewer and fewer things in stone, opting for the internet--virtual copies of things. So I suppose, unless there is a new monument made, or several books that get hidden away in a crypts or memorials, that more accurately represent our current status as a country and as a state, it will be impossible for future explorers, or even generations, to understand our ways of life and thinking. While our monuments and important books (I've been assuming that at least the constitution/bill of rights and religious texts would be preserved, as far as books go) are grandiose and represent snapshots in time fairly well (when you know the history surrounding such monuments and books), it is impossible to understand the culture of the US accurately without context.