What Remains

There is something mesmerizing and almost magical about vestiges of the past. From the grand scheme of Machu Picchu and the Egyptian pyramids down to little reminders like this advertisement for a long-dead newspaper, they force themselves onto you, make you imagine existing in their own time of modernity.

I always get caught up by historical markers like these, feel captivated and caught in their web. What was it like to walk by this freshly painted wall? Did the Inca view their temples with the same level of reverence? Are we patronizing or honoring the societies that have survived in ruins by preserving them further.

It may just be my natural fascination with the interaction between the man-made and the natural. Watching the decay of what we put on the Earth never fails to remind me that nature will always win that battle.

Still, their power perseveres, and inspires the imagination to travel backwards in time with them. I can only think that these markers are longing for their heyday, forced to exist in our strange, modern world, waiting only for their inevitable demise.