The need to memorialize events or people is complex; in some cases, monuments honor moments of great achievement, while in other cases, monuments pay homage to deep sacrifice. A monument 's size, location, and materials are all considerations in planning and creating a memorial to the past. In any case, the need to honor or pay homage to a specific person or event is prevalent within society. A monument has to mean something to the society it is place in. The location of a monument is perhaps the most important aspect of creating a successful monument to honor and show respect to a person or event.
The 8th grade class took a 4 day trip to Washington. We did many things to explore Washington D.C. including visiting monuments. Some people think differently of how a monument should be made. Good monuments to some people could be to make people remember about the person or thing being remembered or to just reflect the person’s life or importance. In “The Follower Problem” by David Brooks, David thinks a good monument should show power and authority.
Some argue that the monuments should not be damaged or tampered with anyway since, even though the person might not have been the best, it is a historical artifact which therefore, should be preserved. The conflict surrounds whether the monuments should be destroyed, stored (in a museum etc), or left to remain. Personally, I believe that monuments, if historical, should not be damaged in anyway, but left to remain, or in specific occasions, preserved in a museum. A monument being destroyed is going too far in some instances. Historical monuments should be preserved and studied.
For instance, Confederate monuments would allow generations to see that America isn’t “a place reserved for people who still want to spit our country, but rather a place for education that we can learn from the ugly protraction of our history” (Lanktree). Often, we talk about learning from the past so that the same mistakes won’t occur in the future. This specifically can be represented through these monuments; by having a symbol of the past where racism occurred, it serves as a reminder of what discrimination can do when one side is filled with bigotry. Having a place where one can learn about the effects of someone’s wrongdoings can allow today’s people to decide for themselves the future they want to create. Additionally, the author of the article Keep Confederate monuments, but put their horrific history on stage describes how Americans have been “willfully blind” about racial justice and that the statues could be used as reminders of the “catastrophic consequences” (Cose).
These statues are not only a part of our history, but also a landmark for people to see and learn about our country’s past. Reconstruction and the monuments were both interpreted in the wrong way. A quote from the article, “We Need to Move, Not Destroy, Confederate Monuments” said “when you find yourself at a crime scene, you don’t destroy the evidence. You preserve it for the prosecution. In the case of images like this, the prosecutor is history, and the trial may be a long one, stretching far into the future, with many witnesses called.”
The monuments require a fee in order to help pay for
Monuments that are constructed in order to give commendation to people, places, or events are located all over the globe. It is very possible for someone to find a few in their very own town. Although there may be negative controversy on certain monuments, many throughout the world have changed individual’s lives tremendously in a beneficial way. One monument in particular has stood tall through it all and has had so much positive effect on millions of people from the beginning of time. One hundred and thirty years later this monument continues to impact people’s lives from all over the world.
One reason Washington deserves a new monument is because he was a pioneer that has withstood the test of time. Being the first isn’t always easy but Washington used his military background to be a real leader, having the role of the first president comes with great responsibility which Washington
Argumentative Essay The debate over how the Confederate and Columbus monuments should be treated starting from Confederate monuments in Southern cities like Charlottesville, VA has led to similar debates over Columbus monuments in northern cities like New York over what the statues have come to represent to people. In which to some it has come to represent racism, slavery, oppression, and destruction, but to others it is an honor towards their ancestors, culture, and race. Though in the end the Confederate monuments should just be left alone as there is no assurance that in the removal, destruction, or transfer of these monuments will stop or end the controversy involving the monuments in question towards both the supporting and opposing sides
Memorials provide thanks for those who lost their lives specifically on that horrid day. The 9/11 Memorial in New York City, shows how much pride we now have in our country and just how significant this catastrophic event was in American history. This memorial and museum took over a decade to construct! As one drives through small towns, memorials of all sizes commemorating 9/11 can be found.
If people truly want to keep the statues, the government should move the statues to a specific museum, so people that want to see the statues can. If people don’t want the see them the people don’t have to. Many people also think that it proves many things about the war and the people and that it is worth it to maintain. Would you want your taxes and money to be misspent on this statue?
While there are a few monuments to commemorate the Apollo 11 mission or Neil Armstrong, none of them incorporate all of the important effects mentioned above, as this monument would. Not only would this monument educate the public on what the Moon landing meant for the United States, it would allow them to realize how much of today’s technology they gained from the space program, a realization much needed today when the government wants to end NASA’s
How can Modernism, which is hailed because of its minimalism, rationalism, and functionalism, produce anything that can remotely be considered a monument? This is a question scholars and architects pondered during the 1940s. Moreover, monuments were not actually required until the post-war era. With the war came totalitarian regimes well acquainted with monumental architecture and unprecedented global causalities, which resulted in a push for memorial projects. One architect that becomes interested in this faltering was Louis Kahn.
I believe that Confederate monuments should be used as educational opportunities. Younger people can see Confederate monuments and learn from the mistakes of earlier generations. On Memorial Day in 1884, Oliver Holmes Jr. (former Union Veteran) stated. “I believe that our memorial halls, statues, and tablets, the tattered flags of our regiments gathered in the State Houses, are worth more to our younger men by way of inspiration than the monuments of another hundred years of peaceful life could exist”(Federalist 8/18/17). Learning from the shortcomings of others can benefit others in the pursuit of peaceful living.
Before I watched the movie, I actually answered that art cannot have equal or greater importance than a human life. My initial reasoning was that one human life has the potential to do much more than what one piece of art can. However, after watching Monuments Men, it made me seriously reconsider my own reasoning on the subject. To those men, the pieces of art meant more than just a monetary value or some symbolic piece of art, the art was an integral part of human history. Europe was one of the oldest and most developed places on Earth, and the art that was being talked about were crucial to our understanding of previous times, like the Ghent Altarpiece.