Monuments

Monuments are usually built to commemorate important events or important people.  We see them in every large city in America and many smaller towns.  They tell what people have appreciated in a region, everything from military prowess to images of modern art.

We all build momuments in our own lives, too, to commemorate what has been important to ourselves.  We collects diplomas for our accomplishments and trophies, certificates, plaques, 24" X 36" portraits, memory boxes, special blankets or jackets, etc.  But, we need them.  Our memories are selective.  They need all the help they can get.

Monuments also are important because they remind us that we might have once been important in some effort or to someone.  We need that sense of belonging and self-actualization (to use Maslow's hierarchy of needs).  

And we make monuments in our minds of the people important to us or of the places we hope never to forget.  My college roommates and I still talk to each other periodically.  They are monuments in my life.  Lifelong friends from times when we lived in the same towns are monuments in my mind.  Memories of my children's big events are monuments.  Some monuments are new such as current, important relationships, and some are old like the monument I have of my parents.  But, we need them all so that we can stand up under the pressures of society that belittle us as human beings.  They help us get to the reward at the end of the race with a little dignity and enjoyment.