By Courtney Daniels, a Birmingham native, former U.S. Marine and veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom
In 2001, the Taliban shamelessly dynamited the Bamiyan Buddhas, two of the largest such carvings of the ancient world. Built in the 6th century by monks who made their homes along the Silk Road, the Buddahs stood for millenia until fundamentalists removed them from the face of the Earth. Such ignorance still abounds. Over the past few months, the onslaught of the Islamic State has wrought the systematic destruction of cultural artifacts from Palmyra to Nineva, all because they were deemed "offensive" by a minority that if it had its way, would ensure the entire world would adhere to a dark and revisionist existence.
A couple of days ago, in the wake of a childish debate over a memorial flag flown near a Confederate statue, a Southern monument was ignorantly desecrated with an attempt at the "Black Lives Matter" slogan. The spray-painted phrase was misspelled. The inanimate statue, a solemn reminder of the South's fallen sons, didn't take away any citizen's pursuit of happiness, it didn't interfere with the social and racial disparities that some claim as a detriment to advancement -- it simply stood there, silent and bold, marking the bravery and errors of yesterday's determinations.
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