[Applause]
monuments their house societies tell
their story to the world
the legacy of all human civilizations
are told through the use of monuments
and memorials a 2007 report by the
United States Peace Institute states
that monuments are tools of
memorialization used to repair societies
that are emerging from a violent
conflict now they can be used in
multiple ways but the most common use of
monuments in public spaces today is to
facilitate healing unification and to
honor those who suffered or died during
the violent conflict now monuments
permeate the fabric of our everyday
lives
they’re the landmarks in our city
sinners they are the centerpieces at our
most beloved public parks that we take
our children to play in monuments crafts
our subconscious interpretation of the
communities that they’re built in my
family and I were military family 21
years to be exact and we’ve had the
opportunity to travel and live all over
the world well in 2009 the military sent
us to South Korea we were stationed at a
small base about 25 miles north of Seoul
so in that area there was no military
housing we lived right in the Korean
community we use their public
transportation we shopped at their
stores we really immersed ourselves in
the Korean society now South Korea like
most Asian and European nations have a
much longer recorded history than that
of the United States but just like the
u.s. they have historic sites and
monuments in their communities for their
citizens as well as visitors to enjoy
now Korea itself has some of the
grandest monuments you will
ever see there’s the sprawling
metropolis filled with skyscrapers
bridges cars traffic and you might be
walking down the street and all that
hustle and bustle and turn a corner and
it opens up to a vast massive 300 acres
square with granite paved sidewalks and
a 100-foot bronze monument of a korean
emperor who ruled thousands of years
before the US was even a thought my time
living in asia showed me that monuments
are how civilizations tell their story
after their long gone while we were
living in South Korea we had the
opportunity to travel to China and we
took a tour of Tiananmen Square now some
of you may be old enough to remember the
1989 student protests where hundreds
maybe thousands are reported to have
been killed they protested against the
Chinese government now I was pretty
young back then but I can still remember
this iconic image of the man who stood
in Tiananmen Square in front of the
military tank Wow well there I was as an
adult standing at the very spot of tank
man I actually thought about tank man at
that time and I wonder where he was what
about the families of the victims who
died that day at the hands of their own
government I was surrounded by thousands
of other visitors in the sight of what
could be considered the most significant
conflict in China’s recent history it
gave me a sense that perhaps this was
China’s way of righting a wrong for
asking for forgiveness from the world
from their citizens and honoring the
victims and even as a visitor I was
deeply deeply moved this changed how I
travel internationally and what I felt
about other societies and communities so
when we went to Frankfurt Germany
some years later of course we sought out
their historic sites and monuments we’re
military families who were looking for
the war memorials
I wondered how had Germany memorialized
World War two well if you’re looking for
any museums or monuments dedicated to
Nazi Germany or the Third Reich they
don’t exist if you’re looking for
effigies or statues erected in the
likeness of Adolf Hitler there are none
there are no souvenir sized Nazi flags
for purchase no t-shirts or shot glasses
inscribed with swastikas you see what I
found was that shortly after World War
two Germany outlawed everything related
to the Nazi Party and the Third Reich
they even changed their national flag in
fact most of the world isn’t even
familiar with the term the Third Reich
what we are familiar with is the number
six million six million Jews were killed
during the Holocaust and in similar
fashion to Tiananmen Square the only
structures that remain standing from the
war are the most notorious concentration
camps you see Germany has created a
legacy where they honor the victims of
their darkest and most dreary domestic
conflict well it was after our trip to
Germany and living abroad in Asia when
the military sent us to the South
Georgia it’s a big fact and so we have
this tradition in our family where we
spend the entire first year in a new
city touring the entire area just like
we’re tourists and so we set out of
course married to a soldier we’re
looking for war memorials and soldier
memorials and monuments we found
Revolutionary War monuments we found
Korean
or in vietnam war monuments of course we
found world war ii in some Holocaust
monuments and memorials but when we set
out in search of American Civil War
monuments what we found confused us the
story that was being told by those
monuments left us perplexed we googled
American Civil War monuments and our
search results came back segregated
Union soldier Civil War monuments and
Confederate monuments now this hit us
like a ton of bricks you see unlike
every other violent conflict in American
history the Civil War monuments don’t
reflect our sentiment as a unified
nation that perspective that we hold so
dear but they instead memorialize the
cause of the war the opposition the
conflict the very thing that we now hold
so dear as a unified nation
the one thing that threatened that is
what we are honoring on our Civil War
monuments I thought to myself wow how
did it feel
gazing up and staring at the monuments
in South Korea Germany and China and the
sense of pride that I got knowing that
those nations had honored the victims of
their violent conflicts and I wondered
if we are missing the opportunity to
tell the story of who we really are as
the United States of America those of us
alive today we get to decide the story
that we tell about our young nation and
as we design our legacy it is important
to consider not only the story that
we’re telling the world but all
the story that we are telling ourselves thank you
monuments their house societies tell
their story to the world
the legacy of all human civilizations
are told through the use of monuments
and memorials a 2007 report by the
United States Peace Institute states
that monuments are tools of
memorialization used to repair societies
that are emerging from a violent
conflict now they can be used in
multiple ways but the most common use of
monuments in public spaces today is to
facilitate healing unification and to
honor those who suffered or died during
the violent conflict now monuments
permeate the fabric of our everyday
lives
they’re the landmarks in our city
sinners they are the centerpieces at our
most beloved public parks that we take
our children to play in monuments crafts
our subconscious interpretation of the
communities that they’re built in my
family and I were military family 21
years to be exact and we’ve had the
opportunity to travel and live all over
the world well in 2009 the military sent
us to South Korea we were stationed at a
small base about 25 miles north of Seoul
so in that area there was no military
housing we lived right in the Korean
community we use their public
transportation we shopped at their
stores we really immersed ourselves in
the Korean society now South Korea like
most Asian and European nations have a
much longer recorded history than that
of the United States but just like the
u.s. they have historic sites and
monuments in their communities for their
citizens as well as visitors to enjoy
now Korea itself has some of the
grandest monuments you will
ever see there’s the sprawling
metropolis filled with skyscrapers
bridges cars traffic and you might be
walking down the street and all that
hustle and bustle and turn a corner and
it opens up to a vast massive 300 acres
square with granite paved sidewalks and
a 100-foot bronze monument of a korean
emperor who ruled thousands of years
before the US was even a thought my time
living in asia showed me that monuments
are how civilizations tell their story
after their long gone while we were
living in South Korea we had the
opportunity to travel to China and we
took a tour of Tiananmen Square now some
of you may be old enough to remember the
1989 student protests where hundreds
maybe thousands are reported to have
been killed they protested against the
Chinese government now I was pretty
young back then but I can still remember
this iconic image of the man who stood
in Tiananmen Square in front of the
military tank Wow well there I was as an
adult standing at the very spot of tank
man I actually thought about tank man at
that time and I wonder where he was what
about the families of the victims who
died that day at the hands of their own
government I was surrounded by thousands
of other visitors in the sight of what
could be considered the most significant
conflict in China’s recent history it
gave me a sense that perhaps this was
China’s way of righting a wrong for
asking for forgiveness from the world
from their citizens and honoring the
victims and even as a visitor I was
deeply deeply moved this changed how I
travel internationally and what I felt
about other societies and communities so
when we went to Frankfurt Germany
some years later of course we sought out
their historic sites and monuments we’re
military families who were looking for
the war memorials
I wondered how had Germany memorialized
World War two well if you’re looking for
any museums or monuments dedicated to
Nazi Germany or the Third Reich they
don’t exist if you’re looking for
effigies or statues erected in the
likeness of Adolf Hitler there are none
there are no souvenir sized Nazi flags
for purchase no t-shirts or shot glasses
inscribed with swastikas you see what I
found was that shortly after World War
two Germany outlawed everything related
to the Nazi Party and the Third Reich
they even changed their national flag in
fact most of the world isn’t even
familiar with the term the Third Reich
what we are familiar with is the number
six million six million Jews were killed
during the Holocaust and in similar
fashion to Tiananmen Square the only
structures that remain standing from the
war are the most notorious concentration
camps you see Germany has created a
legacy where they honor the victims of
their darkest and most dreary domestic
conflict well it was after our trip to
Germany and living abroad in Asia when
the military sent us to the South
Georgia it’s a big fact and so we have
this tradition in our family where we
spend the entire first year in a new
city touring the entire area just like
we’re tourists and so we set out of
course married to a soldier we’re
looking for war memorials and soldier
memorials and monuments we found
Revolutionary War monuments we found
Korean
or in vietnam war monuments of course we
found world war ii in some Holocaust
monuments and memorials but when we set
out in search of American Civil War
monuments what we found confused us the
story that was being told by those
monuments left us perplexed we googled
American Civil War monuments and our
search results came back segregated
Union soldier Civil War monuments and
Confederate monuments now this hit us
like a ton of bricks you see unlike
every other violent conflict in American
history the Civil War monuments don’t
reflect our sentiment as a unified
nation that perspective that we hold so
dear but they instead memorialize the
cause of the war the opposition the
conflict the very thing that we now hold
so dear as a unified nation
the one thing that threatened that is
what we are honoring on our Civil War
monuments I thought to myself wow how
did it feel
gazing up and staring at the monuments
in South Korea Germany and China and the
sense of pride that I got knowing that
those nations had honored the victims of
their violent conflicts and I wondered
if we are missing the opportunity to
tell the story of who we really are as
the United States of America those of us
alive today we get to decide the story
that we tell about our young nation and
as we design our legacy it is important
to consider not only the story that
we’re telling the world but all
the story that we are telling ourselves thank you
Please follow and like us: