Reminders of the past

An old Hebrew proverb says, “There is a path that man believes to be the correct path to follow, but it actually is the path to ruin.” The paradigm today is that we destroy any reminders of the past that are disturbing to any political philosophy or particular group of people.

An essay by our local ACLU leader last week expressed the opinion that we should not allow a statue of a Confederate soldier to stand near a statue dedicated to those brave young people known as the Little Rock Nine. I think I understood the writer’s point of view. However, I look at this from another perspective.

How fitting to leave both statues in place so that everyone can see the progress made based on the efforts of these nine students.

The soldier, armed with weapons of steel, resisting any change to his way of life. The students armed only with their textbooks, pens and notebooks, fighting for the same education afforded to other students. Truly an example of the cliché, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” I can’t imagine how frightened these young people may have been. But they persevered, and their persecutors were forced to concede.

In order for future generations to properly evaluate the progress of these nine scholars, there must be a reminder of how far they came during those sad days of 1957. We have not yet arrived, but we have advanced from where we were.

DANNY DRAPER

Little Rock