Such is civilization: built on the glories of the past, or even on the bones of defeated kingdoms, and even for hundreds and thousands of years in the aftermath of ancient wars and collapsing civilizations, groups of people still suffer. As an example, Rome invaded Britannia – but only half of it, and built Hadrian’s wall, which separated the top from bottom.

A fresh morning drizzle on Saturday either lended to or came from the heavy fog, priced by downtown Omaha’s few skyscrapers. The view from Cummings Street was thankfully unobstructed as I drove to the next restaurant on my list. It was not fair to my destination that in my Jetta’s passenger seat sat a grizzled veteran of the trade – a man who had lived long enough to garner and weed out many opinions about the food in Omaha,

Omaha has many religious places of worship, but only one Temple of Beauty. Windowless walls of pink Georgia-marble reach high into the air as if to both catch as much sunlight as possible while also protecting that which it both dearly covets, but also freely shares from its vaults. On an inscription that has been hewn by stonemasons of the 1930’s into the inner wall of the old entryway a quote – or maybe it’s a resolution lays bare the intentions of the builders: