<p>No no, I didn’t mean that. I meant that you established that he WASN’T a rich white male (when you said that he was part-Sioux). I was referring to the Senate-member who said that she didn’t want another monument to a rich white male.</p>
<p>drbott:
How many statues around campus are of “rich white males” AND “war heroes”…excluding the obvious Washington statue?..And I really doubt that that statue was erected specifically for his achievements as a general.</p>
<p>Not to mention that Washington wasn’t even a state at the time…so there’s no way he could be an alumnus.</p>
<p>I still fail to see how the senate could reject honoring a man who sacrificed so much for us and claim it is in the name of ‘diversity’ or ‘equality.’ He spent the best years of his life doing man’s worst.</p>
<p>My favorite quote from Band of Brothers is the last line of the series : “And not a day goes by that I don’t think about the men I served with, who never got to enjoy the world without war.” Imagine what those men’s lives would be like had they not gone to war. How many would still be alive? How many would have become doctors, and saved another life? How many could have contributed to society some talent or wisdom? But no…they chose a higher purpose. Maybe they didn’t realize it at the time, but what they did will forever impact the future of our world.</p>
<p>Just close your eyes and think about what we have right now. Yes, we have men and women serving in an armed conflict overseas, but how much as it really affected life at home? We’re not dealt rubber/metal/clothing/food rations on a weekly basis so the supplies can be sent overseas. EVERYONE sacrificed in those times…the warriors often gave the ultimate sacrifice. Today is different. We send our soldiers off, and besides the nightly news and papers, hardly hear of it, it seems like it’s all happening in some hellish nightmare. </p>
<p>I’m willing to bet that most of us worry more about how much gas is going to cost tomorrow than how many soldiers will die tonight. Not that nobody thinks about it…but unless we’re related to a service member overseas, a terrible amount of thought may not be given to it. I for one have grown numb to the constant daily body counts, hearing of another helicopter crash in which so and so many died, another car bombing. Yes, it affects me…but how much?</p>
<p>Thanks to the unimaginable sacrifices of Col. Boyington and his brothers in arms, we live in a relative state of peace.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree that our armed troops do, in general, protect such great things as academic freedom. I don’t delegitimize that! I was simply saying that we already have statues of war heroes - but very few monuments to scholars. Could we just close the gap, to some extent?</p>
<p>And I would like to reiterate that I am not saying this because Boyington was a “rich white male.”</p>