- Feb 5, 2002
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The Christian practice of accepting a person’s weaknesses in order to celebrate his strengths is far better than the all-or-nothing demands of the mobs.
I can understand in some cases how a monument may be deemed offensive. And then there are cases, such as the statue of St. Junípero Serra at Golden Gate Park, that do make me wonder: how far will this eventually go?
How many of those men and women, once considered heroes, are going to be considered “unpardonable” for not having held our contemporary notions? Would it turn out that there were no “good” men and women prior to the last 60 years or so? In which cases is taking down a monument warranted? In which cases is destroying a monument nitpicking, or giving in to ideologies which are centered upon blame (as Communism was)? Is all of this de-memorializing somehow supposed to make any person’s life better? Is it healthy to demand men and women of the past to think exactly as we do in the present?
Will memorials of Abraham Lincoln eventually be taken down over comments he made which would obviously be considered racist today? Will statues of Shakespeare be taken down because he wroteTaming of the Shrew? Could it be the case that, some decades down the line, memorials of Martin Luther King shall be taken down if it were to be revealed that he drove around in a gas-guzzler rather than an electric car? And if a person’s imperfections, as defined by modern notions, are such unpardonable sins, then who will we have left to admire?
“Now it is very right to rebuke our own race or religion for falling short of our own standards and ideals.” —G.K. Chesterton
Continued below.
Who Will Be Our Heroes Now?
I can understand in some cases how a monument may be deemed offensive. And then there are cases, such as the statue of St. Junípero Serra at Golden Gate Park, that do make me wonder: how far will this eventually go?
How many of those men and women, once considered heroes, are going to be considered “unpardonable” for not having held our contemporary notions? Would it turn out that there were no “good” men and women prior to the last 60 years or so? In which cases is taking down a monument warranted? In which cases is destroying a monument nitpicking, or giving in to ideologies which are centered upon blame (as Communism was)? Is all of this de-memorializing somehow supposed to make any person’s life better? Is it healthy to demand men and women of the past to think exactly as we do in the present?
Will memorials of Abraham Lincoln eventually be taken down over comments he made which would obviously be considered racist today? Will statues of Shakespeare be taken down because he wroteTaming of the Shrew? Could it be the case that, some decades down the line, memorials of Martin Luther King shall be taken down if it were to be revealed that he drove around in a gas-guzzler rather than an electric car? And if a person’s imperfections, as defined by modern notions, are such unpardonable sins, then who will we have left to admire?
“Now it is very right to rebuke our own race or religion for falling short of our own standards and ideals.” —G.K. Chesterton
Continued below.
Who Will Be Our Heroes Now?
