While rereading Louis Menand’s “The Metaphysical Club,” I came across a passage that relates to our country’s current discussion of statues and who and what are worthy of memorialization. The book references the Augustus Saint-Gaudens frieze on Boston Common of the 54th Massachusetts, the Black Civil War regiment whose exploits were portrayed in the film “Glory.”
At the dedication of the monument in 1897, philosopher William James stated that national salvation is dependent on “acts without picturesqueness; by speaking, writing, voting reasonably; by smiting corruption swiftly; by good temper between parties; by the people knowing true men when they see them, and preferring them as leaders to rabid partisans or empty quacks.”
This sentiment should help guide our actions in the early days of our contemporary reconstruction period.
Joe Wagner
Lyman
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