Why
do we build memorials to commemorate those who give their lives
for their country?
When we die, so much is lost. Our conversations, our
dreams, our nightmares, our tears, and our hobbies—everything is
lost. We fade into oblivion, names lost to the scourge of
time. Unless we are one of the lucky few who manage to make a
difference, our lives are not recorded, and everything
vanishes.
In war it is even
easier to fade away. Casualties become numbers, faceless and
impersonal. A person turns into a statistic, hopes, dreams and
personality fading away to be morphed into a number. When
deaths mount into the thousands, picturing the number as a chain
of one plus one plus one…all the way to the end, is nearly
impossible. But, that is what the numbers are, a slow build up
of individuals, who died trying to do the right thing. A pile
of fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, husbands and
wives, lovers and friends. All dead, all degraded into
numbers. What is overlooked is the fact that each individual
has a web of connections, and that single death hits all of
those people. The people who survive are forgotten.
When one soldier
dies, everyone who was close to that person must live with
grief. The soldiers who fought with him or her must live on, to
fight another day. The death can rattle hundreds. When two
die, the number doubles. The list of casualties is more than a
list of dead; it also represents the people who must constantly
struggle with sadness.
The trauma of the
living makes memorials important. The physical manifestation of
the courage and honor the noble soldiers showed is evident in
most memorials. The memorial is a work of art, sanctified to
the memory of the fallen soldiers. On a large scale, they are a
tribute to the country, showing how many loved their country
enough to die for it. However, on a smaller scale, they became
even more important.
A small memorial,
dedicated to those who died in a certain area, demystifies the
large number of casualties. The smaller list of names makes it
more conceivable. The list of names of the fallen soldiers is
easier to read. Seeing the list of names helps turn the large
numbers one memorizes for class into a tangible concept. From
being an abstract thought, the deaths become real. These people
died; these families suffered. The numbers turn into names,
which in turn become people, people with hopes and dreams, who
belonged to a family. A smaller-scale memorial offers more
comfort to a family, where they can see their loved one’s name
endure.
Memorials make the
list of fallen soldiers immortal. By carving them onto a stone
slab, or a sheet of metal, the names live on, for all to see.
This makes the memorial doubly important to the family of the
deceased and to the soldier. The soldier fell, protecting us
from danger; the bare minimum they deserve is their name on a
plaque. It is a testament to their courage, and allows them to
live on in memory. As we survive the late soldier, this
memorial will survive us. When we fall to the scourge of time,
the memorial will live on. The soldiers will continue to be a
blessing.
A memorial honors a
fallen soldier as well, for it records their noble sacrifice for
posterity. While they may have died, the memorial allows the
community they lived in to remember them. They become an
inspiration to us, and future generations. These soldiers stand
for honor, and courage, and loyalty, traits we are in dire need
of. The memorials are an indicator good exists in the world,
proving there are people who are selfless. The soldiers fell to
protect people they didn’t know, showing a kindness and love of
humanity. The soldiers stood up for humanity, for morality, for
goodness.
This is why memorials
are so vital, the way they are a standing witness to the good
within people. A memorial stands for the devotion people feel
for their country and the fact morality is still alive. We
commemorate our dead soldiers in honor of what they represent—a
person rising above basic human decency to become a shining
paragon of goodness. |