I believe we need to listen closer to our rock legends. Recently some linguists managed to compile a "Keith Richards to English, English to Keith Richards" dictionary and it turns out he was actually saying something important during interviews. Keith recently suggested that horses basically saved civilization as we know it. Consider all the important battles whose outcomes depended on the skills of men on horseback. Think about all the contributions draft horses made to improving labor. How far would we have gotten in the Old West if it hadn't been for Old Paint getting us there? I believe our beloved Rolling Stone and rehabilitation icon may be onto something here.
But what other discoveries or ideas can be credited with saving civilization from extinction? I got to thinking about that and came up with a few ideas of my own. First off, I think the creation of walls certainly changed things for the better. Dividing ourselves into smaller and smaller social units probably saved our collective sanity. Communal living might have protected early man, but walls provided a sense of "self ", which in turn promoted the formation of towns and cities. Of course you do have the problem of walls failing to live up to expectations- the Great Wall of China, Hadrian's Wall, the Berlin Wall, etc. Perhaps Frost was right when he wrote in his poem Mending Wall: "Something there is that doesn't love a wall'. Some walls are good at uniting, while others are bent on division.
I also believe the cultivation of coffee has done a lot to define civilization. Coffee is a lingering reminder of the Ottoman Turk empire, which nearly conquered Europe 500 years ago. The exportation of a single coffee plant from France lead to the dominance of South American coffee growers in the world today. Coffee helped to equalize the economic playing field for many smaller countries struggling to find a viable commodity. Coffee was a staple item for settlers and pioneers, not to mention our fighting soldiers. Coffee became a nearly-universal beverage long before Coca-Cola and Pepsi. I'll even bet that coffee fueled more than a few late-night jams featuring Mick, Keith, Ronnie, Bill and Charlie. So it all comes full circle- horses, walls, coffee and Keith Richards. I just know there's a future Jeopardy question in there somewhere.
