This week I had two catering shifts in two amazing spaces: the world-famous British Museum and the classy Science Museum. For the guests it must have been a true privilege to have dinner in such spaces, although I am sure they didn’t have time enough to enjoy their surroundings, admire their pieces and embrace their auras.
While I was working in them I couldn’t help but feeling overwhelmed. Not only by the majesty of these venues, which obviously helped… but also by the feeling of being surrounded by life everywhere.
The Enlightenment hall alone in the British Museum is a little history of humanity in itself. Loads of art works from all over the world join together in this beautiful and amazingly preserved room. There are no masterworks there, but that gives the place much more solemnity. I thought of the innumerable artists, crafters, archaeologists, historians and curators who had worked at some point with those objects, who at their time would probably have the same issues we have now (to earn enough to eat, to get a nice place to live in, to find a partner to share their lives, to move to another place to try and get better chances in life)… That made me really feel how connected we all are, how many lives have been necessary to reach where we are…
And that could be even more patent in the Science Museum: how many people have devoted their time to contribute to humanity's progress, how many engineers have spent years to find out a tiny improvement on engines, how many biologists have been their whole lives in labs to help get a cure for diseases? It still makes me shiver on my computer at home.
I want to raise my glass to all those who have helped me be who I am today, those whose work allows me to enjoy the world I know today. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I’m 33 now and you’re part of it. I’ll try to contribute myself. Amen.
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