>>7865461ameribro, this is what you don't get. it's not about the "inanimate object" at all.
it's much like saying that a pic of your parents from 20 years ago is just a shitty picture of some boomers taken with a potato. maybe it is to others who don't care about you; but to you it is way more than just a picture. it is a part of you. and if it doesn't matter to you, what does? what do you have to live for, at this point? do you even care if you're alive or not?
Notre Dame is far more than a combination of stones. It is a part of every French person, and to an extent of every civilized person. It is a kind of rare thing which can make a whole nation come together in one mutual feeling. it is one of those things which elevate us from dog eat dog world to something more—a family, a nation, a country.
you might act cynical, but a cynic will never understand it or have it, because that's one thing he can't have—a human bond. in times of depression, even if you don't have anybody, you will have something—your memories, your bonds, your sense of belonging, your reasons to live. but a cynic will have nothing but a glaring hole of nothingness. that's what every cynic is afraid of, that's the glaring hole he tries to replace with degeneracy, drugs and alcohol. and to boost his ego, he will laugh at others, poking fun at "pointless stones". but what a cynic doesn't realize is that he's just making fun of himself, a worthless pile of moving flesh with no reason to live.
so, "never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."
