.jpg)
The debate over what to do with the proposed Gold Star Monument seems much like being confronted with what to do with inheriting family heirlooms.
Consider that generations old rocking chair that Great Aunt Fern left. Where can we put it?
It can’t go in the kitchen. The kitchen hasn’t been planned as a place for such a leisurely item of furniture as a rocking chair.
It can’t go in the dining room for the same reason. The dining room’s mission is to sit at a table and share a meal. Rocking chairs don’t fit at tables.
It can’t go in the living room. The furniture there is all post modern. Something as antique as a century-old rocking chair won’t match the décor.
It can’t go in the recreation room. Its size and age can’t survive the rigors of teenage use. The maintenance would be too expensive.
It can’t go in the study. A rocking chair is not feasible at a computer desk. Someone sitting in it elsewhere in the room while a writer is concentrating will be a distraction with all that rocking and squeaking.
It can’t go in the yoga room for the same reason. Who can meditate with all that motion and noise circling around?
So Great Aunt Fern’s family heirloom goes into storage with all the “can’t-gos” vetoing its display.
Among the expressed objections to a Gold Star Monument being placed at Lexington’s Jordans Point is that it would be subject to damage from flooding. Take a look around the area. T he concrete footings that supported the railroad bridge and then two pedestrian bridges survived through decades of numerous major floodings just below the dam. That dam and its two abutments, all in the middle of those flows, also withstood the force.
Another objection was that such a structure would intrude on a peaceful setting by the river, where visitors come to be with nature and contemplate the beauty of the area.
I don’t see any incongruity here. In fact, I find a spot where people come for contemplation and meditation an excellent place for honoring those who “gave the last full measure of devotion.” Their sacrifice is what gives us such places. It was their effort that established and maintained a country where we are free to let our minds wander and wonder free of the domination of a selfish and demanding government.
We should be willing to share that place with their memory.
Another objection is a desire to not b e c onfronted w ith w ar. T o think of a Gold Star Monument as a memorial to war is an error. Our honorings of our service people are not “War Memorials.” Far from that: they are “Freedom and Peace Memorials.” Our military people serve to protect our greatest ideals and to keep the scourge of war from coming to our shores.
They have even been willing to protect our friends and win their freedom and peace.
A Gold Star Monument is more than an honoring of those who have died in that service. It is also a recognition of the great loss their families have suffered, an interruption in happiness that no one should experience. We cannot assuage that grief, but we can show that we share it.
Much as we do when we go to a family visitation.
The Lexington City Council has tasked itself with finding an appropriate place for the hoped for Gold Star Monument.
It should be a place of community – accessible and mindful of its intent, where sharing that intent is consistent with family activities.
Perhaps our Gold Star families should be asked for their input.
It might be that Lexington Council should consult with its siblings, Buena Vista and Rockbridge County, for their support and ideas. A park in the jurisdiction that offers more room for picnicking, games, socializing, as well as remembering and quiet contemplation.
Our uncles, the Commonwealth and Federal governments, may have a place that could be such a vista created along the Blue Ridge Parkway or Interstates 81 or 64 where passersby could share our respect, and theirs, for these families.
Next Monday is Memorial Day, the day we honor all our soldiers and sailors who have died defending us in American wars and celebrate their lives and contribution to our country.
We also mustn’t forget the heroes who survived those wars. Faced with the horror and prospect of a violent death, they picked up their rifles and continued forward, not in imperialistic conquest, but in defense of our homes, our ideals, and our families.
Until the world is rid of ambitious leaders who seek power for power’s sake and are willing to resort to violent means to impose their selfish wills, we will need soldiers and sailors with that dedication to see that peace and freedom endures.
We must not forget to show our gratitude to them and their families.
