A Mission in Ruins

If ancient ruins have anything to tell it might ought to be the lessons of failed societies. How they came to be, their practices and how it all came to ruin.

The decaying walls at Quarai Salinas Pueblo Mission, New Mexico weren't talking to me. But a fellow visitor from Texas was. He, an archeological hobbiest, was walking through the same maze of rooms I was, snapping off shot after shot even as I was.

We discussed how it is that often different cultures come into conflict when one decides to impose it's will and purpose on another. Such was the case of the Spaniards of 1598 and the native Pueblos and Apaches of what is now New Mexico.

Artifacts and left over remains aside, here is also a ray of light that can shed understanding on our own enduring societal conflicts.