Treasuring art

With the sad fire at Notre-Dame, I got to thinking about art, modern views, writing and other expressions of higher thought and civilization. Before I became a writer, I was a reader, I did and always have appreciated books, art in general (I am also an artist) and like most of us music. Some of these things were soothing in stressful parts of my life, some had a large impact in my childhood that are still with me. And now, on the other side of the fence, I know all the hard work, sheer time and effort required to simply make one book. It employs many other people and plays a part in one's community/economy. Artists, editors and designers are all employed well beyond the writer. Then you have the rights of the creator of the work. Yet books and many other works go for so little due to computer advances, marketing approaches, public opinion. But the fire at Notre-Dame is a reminder that there IS a limit, a lifetime and a finiteness of art, music and or literature, statues etc. There has never been an endless supply and never will be. So, it is good to record these things, value them, they enrich our human existence through time, from generation to generation, inspire thought, experimentation of technique and mediums, and probably are what make us human. Other animals 'speak', use tools, have rudimentary culture, we share genes, but we alone have art. That art takes someone who makes the time to learn a skill whether on their own or if lucky under a mentor. Then it takes time to make the piece, and enough eyes/minds must somehow see and be intelligent enough to value it. During wartime, art is routinely used to attack the soul of the society, beyond the war itself, so these things have a deep effect on all societies. There is no culture of humanity that does not have art. Modern viewpoints on 'free' and 'accessible' to the public are all fine and dandy as long people don't forget that without artists, there would be no art. books, no plays, movies, music.. what would life be like? I am glad they saved many of the pieces of art at Notre-Dame, it was great news despite the situation. Art is precious.