Every single photo is recognizable.

Golden sand, enormous stone ruins and the occasional glimpse of a camel or two.

It's easy to know when you're looking at a photo of Egypt and rightly so.

Today the modern landscape of Egypt is littered with relics from the past.

Some seem as large as mountains, while others are mere fragments of a lone statue.

But no matter their condition or size, these remnants from ancient Egypt keep the memory

of that kingdom alive, thousands of years after those people lived and died there in Northern

Africa.

And the modern nation of Egypt knows this all too well.

More than just about any other country in the world, Egypt invests heavily in uncovering

its past.

Its tourism industry is focused almost exclusively on those fragments of another world.

Every year there are dozens of TV episodes filmed there, and one glimpse at Egyptian currency

will tell you the same story.

The temples, monuments, and ancient artwork of their ancestors are cornerstones of who

they are today.

What we hold on to tends to define us.

Whether it's a precious object or a specialized skill, the things we cling to and never

let go of often end up becoming part of who we are.

And most of the time that's not a bad thing.

There's nothing wrong with having pride in our culture or putting our past accomplishments

on a pedestal.

...