The crisis was over. But a crisis loses much of its power if it is seen only as a single event, as a string of this-and-that-happeneds, with narrow causes and personal effects. If it is not also seen as a symbol. For however dangerous they may be, symbols—as it has been since the caves—help us to explain ourselves and our world, allow a mortal boy to reach his hand into the distant future and deliver a message: This is what I saw, what I learned, what you’ve got to know.
