From Charlottesville, VA

I ran across a marvelous and thought-provoking OP ED today from the Huntington (W VA) news. It was written by a fellow who took issue with the public sculpture in his hometown and what it represented.
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/27598
Raising a public sculpture memorializing local heroes is always a dicey propostion. Even if everyone agrees on the piece when it's proposed, a few years down the line, residents may resent the bronze guy or gal up in the town square. Or, even more years along, they may have no idea who that green man is!
Even in Boston, the iconic statue of George Washington in the Public Garden is often mistaken for Paul Revere! (But that's another story.)
So- if a cataclysm happened and shook off all the public sculpture in your town, who or what would you replace it with?

There are only two memorials in my town- one to the (fictitious) meeting of Roger Williams and the Narragansett chief on the island, and the other celebrating the history of the town.
What do I think should be remembered- and in what medium?
Ummmm.... how about the burning of the town by the British in the revolution? And Washington's crossing the island to meet Rochambeau? And the welcoming of German POWs during WWII? Or, more to the point- the peacefulness we've lived in since the 18th century.
How do you commemorate peace?
Watch this space for the answer to that question!
As David Swanson states in his article, "The dominant thrust of the statues in our public spaces suggests that the core of our history can be condensed into a five-year period of war a century and a half ago. Our public spaces tell us that the only thing worthy of commemoration since that horrific episode was the senseless slaughter of millions of Vietnamese."
Because the comments feature on this blog is (apparently) permanently on leave, please email me at cassidy@stonepilgrim.com and I'll post the comments.