World Treasures

My son went to Egypt recently on business. Egypt would not have been my choice of locations for him to travel to, but it is his job. We were in communication with him during his stay, and he told us he was able to go see the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx while he was in the country. Our conversation with him about his trip to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx made me realize what a great job our government does to take care of our National Treasures.

My son told us about how the ruins were in ruin. He said that Solicitors (best name I could think of) were everywhere, and he could not have one moment of peace to enjoy the Pyramids and Sphinx without being followed and harassed the entire time. He said that these "stalkers", (my word, not his) would try to push trinkets into their hands or arms, and once you spoke to them they would get even more aggressive. Taking pictures of World Treasures is difficult in some countries because of the surrounding landscaping, and the desire of the Countries residents not wanting to be in any pictures. It could be difficult to not include them in a picture if they are one of the homeless living in the ruins.

We received an email with this picture and the Subject: Old Pile of Rocks

Here is the text of the email: Here is a panorama with with Great Pyramid (right), the Not-Quite-But-Almost- As-Great Pyramid (center), and the By-Then-People-Were-Sick-of-Hauling-Around-a-Bunch-of-Rocks-So-It-Isn't-Really-That-Great Pyramid (left) Further left are the tiny Ok-You-Can-Have-a-Pyramid-But-You're-a-Woman-So-Don't-Get-Your-Hopes-Up Pyramids for some queens. Finally, there is the Sphinx (front center).                     

Our son told us that there was a fast food restaurant about 500 feet from one of the pyramids and that there were even what looked like homeless people sleeping at the base of the Pyramid. There was trash everywhere, and people had carved their names, or initials into the stones of the Pyramids. He found one spot that he was able to take a decent picture.

Now, think of any place in this country where you have visited that contains a National Treasure. Our National Parks Department will rope off monuments and historic sites to preserve them and keep visitors from damaging them. The Parks Department will also only allow registered vendors to sell items to visitors. Sometimes, they will sell tickets to off set the cost of preserving the treasure, but in many cases it is free admission.  Many of our National Monuments have Park Rangers, or security, to help make your visit safe and enjoyable. A great example is the Washington Monument, after an earth quake a few years ago, it was shut down and repaired so that visitors were safe and the monument preserved. T hey had scaffolding up around the monument and Rangers outside to make sure it was safe for visitors and still letting visitors get close enough to appreciate the monument.

Washington Monument with Scaffolding 

After living in the DC area the last few years I have first hand seen the great job our government does to protect our Nation's monuments and historic sites.  In this country we protect sites that are a fraction of the age of the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids in the hope that they will also be here in 4000 years for people to enjoy. I do not have the confidence that some of our Would Treasures will be here in a few hundred years if their home countries don`t start taking care of these priceless ruins.