Emphasis Preaching Journal

Anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked what the first signs of civilization were in a society (the questioner expected her to talk about different tools, and so on). She said the first sign of emerging civilization was a healed femur. In early society, if a person could not hunt or gather, a broken leg would mean his/her death. A healed femur meant that someone had to care for the injured person, not just the leg, by bringing the person food and taking time away from their other activities to care for the person. Compassion, Mead said, was the first sign of civilization.