The question that stuck with me from Dr. Paul Farber and Pedro Lasch’s discussion with our class is one that was brought up at the end of class: are there monuments we could make now that wouldn’t be destroyed by future generations? This question wasn’t discussed in much depth at all, though I wish it had been. My first response to the question was no, of course not. Our world is far from achieving the type of progress that could allow us to build a monument that would please future generations because the monument would be bound to be challenged by someonein the world. We would encounter so much trouble deciding what the monument would be, and this would limit our ability to truly imagine a monument that could be appreciated by future generations. At least in my perspective, our populations are becoming increasingly more progressive as time goes on, which is why I think the monument would need to be progressive to maintain appreciation in the future. Nonetheless, we have trouble envisioning our future progressiveness potential because we haven’t seen it yet, and it is not easy to imagine, as is anything in the future. What I, at least, hope the world will be one day is a type of progressive that is far, far from where we are now.
When I pondered the question on a deeper level, I concluded that I think there could be a monument that wouldn’t be destroyed by future generations. Monuments now are not loved by everyone, and I don’t think they are necessarily intended to be appreciated by everyone. In the past, they have certainly not been approved by everyone. Monuments are meant to express and acknowledge our history through the present; they combine the past, present, and future. Monuments are not necessarily intended to combine everything into one—they are intended to express a select aspect of our history that is now living with us. I think when I first considered the question, I imagined the monument encompassing the entirety of our complex current political and social situations. One monument cannot express this, though, and therefore I think we could create a monument that wouldn’t be destroyed by future generations.
