"The sanctity of our battlefields, monuments, and veterans institutions is of utmost importance to preserve military history and pay respect to those who fought." Politician Henry Waxman
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| Monument at Gettysburg Battlefield |
Monuments help us remember the past. I don't know about you, but I saw about a dozen of them just driving through town today. And everytime I pass one, I think about what man once stood there, what man fought there, what man fell on that hill and what man never made it home cause he died on that spot.
Okay, so that's a tad bit morbid, but seriously, we have to think about this stuff. 51,000 casualties fell at Gettysburg alone. Now there are 1,328 monuments, markers and memorials to remember those men just in Gettysburg.
Monument = Remember
Monuments are important. Veterans of the Civil War put up monuments and memorials just weeks after battles occurred, to remember where their regiment stood, or where someone died. The government put monuments as a big priority since most of those with say on that subject were veterans themselves.
(See The Civil War in 4 Monuments Video to learn more)
So monuments were erected by veterans to remember what happened at that particular spot. That reminds me of ebenezers. An ebenezer is a monument, if you will, from Bible times. When God would bring the Israelites through something (across the Jordan River, defeating an enemy, etc.) He would tell them to build an altar, or erect an ebenezer. The word ebenezer means "Stone of help", showing where God came to their rescue. ("Then Samuel took a stone and set it up...He named it Ebenezer, saying 'Thus far has the Lord helped us'" 1 Sam. 7:12) They would also build altars, made of stone, and remember what God had brought them through.
Monuments aren't any different. We look back on monuments, and think "Wow, did this unit really do that?" Look at the Pennsylvania Monument (My official favorite place in all of Gettysburg). It has the names of all the men from Pennsylvania who died at Gettysburg written around the bottom of its huge structure. Its really moving to stand there and touch the engraved names.
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| Me atop the Pennsylvania Monument |
Why should Confederate monuments be any different?
There are those out there who want to remove the Confederate Monuments from Southern cities. Yeah, I know, I'm not from the South, but I still care. The Southern man has the right to remember what his ancestors fought and died for. Yes, their fight for slavery was wrong, but not all Southern men cared about slaves. (Going out on a limb here, there were probably more Northerners that didn't want slavery to stop simply because of the racial hatred they had for the slaves.)
Southern people want to put their past behind them, so they want to remove Confederate monuments from public places. Removing the monuments doesn't do anything but say these men died in vain. (That statement from the Gettysburg Address ring a bell?) It says that we as the 21st century generation don't want to remember our ancestors who fought for what they believed to be the definition of freedom (we're going to talk about that next week).
In order to forget all the mistakes that have been ever been made in this country, we would have to destroy the American flag, which stands for freedom while allowing slavery for the blacks before the Civil War, the cruel treatment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, and the continuing mistreatment of Native Americans. The only way to purify America from the "rebel" spirit is to kill all its citizens; who wish to fight against communism yet decide which memories America should remember. The only way for America to be a great country again is if its citizens would stop removing the ebenezers. Maybe the Southerners were wrong to rebel, but how can we learn from our mistakes if we never remember them?
Let's change the thinking of the world: Let's remember the past, ALL of it, even the painful parts, and let's keep that American flag alive.
Sources: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/henrywaxma394812.html?src=t_monuments
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/v/vicentefox194518.html?src=t_monuments
http://www.civilwar.org/education/in4/monuments.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/
https://www.nps.gov/gett/faqs.htm
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