Anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student one day
in class for the earliest sign of civilization in a culture. Is it a clay pot, a fishhook, an arrowhead, a
stone for grinding grain? Her answer was
surprising: a healed femur. She
explained that healed femurs are never found among savages. You find skulls crushed by clubs, temples
pierced by arrows, but no healed femurs.
A healed femur means that someone took pity; someone practiced compassion on
the person with the broken leg while it healed. Someone hunted, brought him or
her food while it healed. So the
practice of grace: a gift, like a cup of cold water, is the first sign of
civilization.
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