A drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be, according to the fitness and tendency of things. Nature has set upon him the process of decline and dissolution by which she removes things which have survived their usefulness.
I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS. I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived.
When I was growing up, everybody in charge, my parents and teachers, had all survived the war, and they talked about the war like it was the Kraken - you know, this huge beast that roamed the earth during their formative years.
A city built on rivers and bituminous coal, Pittsburgh in the '90s has survived the boom and bust years.
You don't restore 'The Last Supper' by filling in the missing bits - you preserve. You accept the material that has somehow survived.