Destroying our history is not the answer

By JIM SNYDER

The current obsession with destroying confederate monuments is troubling. And as expected, protests around the country have erupted into violence. The recent protest in Charlottesville, Virginia over the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee resulted in rioting and attacks that caused the death of one young lady and injuries to dozens more. To add insult to injury, the police were either told to stand down or ordered not to intervene. That was a mistake which caused more damage and more injuries to occur. So why, all of a sudden, are these monuments deemed offensive? Funny how no one even mentioned these statues during the last administration. But all of a sudden these Civil War monuments are the hot topic of discussion. Why?

The Civil War, as painful as it was, is part of our history. I always refer to the famous saying that if we don’t learn from our history we are doomed to repeat it. The Civil War taught us many lessons of what not to do again. Ignoring or trying to erase those memories is not the way to learn from them. 620,000 Americans lost their lives on those battlefields during that horrible war. Many of us had relatives that fought in that war. I had relatives who fought on both sides. But what is happening now is sickening and disturbing.

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