Story time. Monuments.
This isn’t my story. My friend Dri shared it with me. You can ask her the next time you see her to verify the details.
There is a lot of uproar right now about statues and monuments. Some statues and monuments need to be taken down, others can be put into museums to educate the masses on the atrocities of humanity, and still other monuments are left in place either because of their sheer magnitude or their acceptance within the culture. So my friend Dri, is a state employee and everyday on her break she walks around the Capitol building. There are lots of statues and monuments on the Capitol grounds including a calf, a cowboy, and a buffalo.
On this particular day as Dri was walking around the Capitol building she noticed a man with two young boys climbing on the calf and taking pictures. Dri continued her walk as she observed a car pull up and park. An older man got out of the car and stood on the sidewalk about ten feet from the man, the boys, and the calf. He began to admonish them and let them know that the calf is not strong enough to hold their weight and they shouldn’t be on it anyway. He was obviously angry.
Now what is really amazing about this and what Dri and I found so remarkable is that this older gentleman had the courage in the moment to speak up about something he felt was fundamentally wrong. He didn’t have a gun. It was just him standing up to this man with these two small boys. He took so seriously the importance of the Capitol grounds that he wouldn’t even step a foot on the grass. In fact, and again, check this with Dri, the older man shuffled from foot to foot, constantly aware of how close he was standing to the Capitol grounds grass. Well, the man and the boys decided they’d move on and continued to journey around the Capitol. The older man took it upon himself to follow them and make sure they didn’t get into any more mischief on the cowboy or the buffalo.
I’m not sure why armed militia feel the need to sit in front of the Capitol building to protect the statues and monuments. We have unarmed citizens that will do that. Even the peaceful protesters won’t step on the Capitol grass when marching around. That is how sacred the Capitol is to some of these folks.
Now the rest of the story.
Imagine, for a moment, not wanting the desecration of statues, monuments, and sacred ground. Do you feel that? That feeling inside of you? That stirring of emotion of what is fundamentally right and wrong. If you can acknowledge that feeling then you can begin to empathize with others whose sacred spaces are desecrated. Let that sink in. It’s time to make amends.
as always,
Kyle Cameron aka EL