Statues, Saints, and the Immortal Ones

A Reflection of What We Want to Remember

As many of you know, I love to travel and when I travel, I love to explore the cities, towns, or countries that I have the privilege of visiting. Lately, I’ve started paying attention to the monuments in some of these places and wondered about how and why certain people, events, or experiences have been “memorialized,” by statues that are designed to last the test of time.

One of my more recent trips took me to Indianapolis, IN where I found a couple war memorials that enshrined the experiences of soldiers in war. One memorial called the “Soldiers and Sailors Monument” is prominently located in the heart of the city. It was completed in 1901 by a German architect, Bruno Schmitz. It was dedicated to the “Hoosiers” (or people from Indiana) who served in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Frontier Wars and the Spanish-American War. It’s fascinating to have such a tremendous and prominent building dedicated to helping the community remember the challenges and devastations of war. One sculpture is entitled “The Dying Soldier,” bringing the harsh realities of life and death to the forefront of the minds of the observers. It made me wonder, does this help humanity remember the pains of war? Or is it a conviction of how humanity can so quickly turn against one another because of conflict?

The other trip I took brought me to Nashville this past month, and I wandered over to Centennial Park where I had the chance to see the Women’s Suffrage Monument which had been placed and unveiled in 2016 at the park. This incredible monument commemorated five Tenneseean women who played a pivotal role in granting women the right to vote in 1920. Some people who remember that moment and that experience are still alive and know what life was like before and after that change in the governmental policies that gave women the opportunity to make a difference in their own lives. Again, I wondered if this monument helps us remember the privileges we have because of the fight others took on our behalf?

These statues, monuments, and other creative endeavors in the arts tie us to the past and inspire us for a different future. It reminds us of the fights and challenges people endured to give us the freedom and gifts we enjoy today. It’s hard to ensure that the next generations really value these rights and freedoms if we don’t take time to tell the stories and illustrate the history that shaped the society and culture we live in today. This is a way for us to remember.

Arts are a way for us to tell the stories and remember the history that perpetrated injustice so that we don’t repeat the evils of our past. Monuments in cities tell us what the city values, who were their saints, and what was most important for them to remember. Sometimes the values in our culture and society change for the better or for the worse. Telling the stories through these monuments and helping our children, grand-children and great-grandchildren understand these stories is essential for our future.

Next time you travel, explore the cities monuments and discover what this tells you about their culture, their society, and their values. You might be surprised by the stories you discover!