| "We keep records for the same reason that we build schools, or rear our children, or support our aged parents. It is one of those things that we do without asking ourselves whether or not it represents a profitable investment but simply because it is our innate assumption that civilized people can do nothing else. We know that because we are not barbarians we must keep records. In other words, the keeping of records in a civilized society is primarily an act of faith. We keep records because of our deep emotional and intellectual commitment to the values of the civilization of which we are a part, and to what our ancestors did and to what we hope our children will do." |
