20/20 Gonzo 37: No Idols Yet

A proxy for lowly humans long gone, stick it to them anyway, for sins of mission and omission.  Just marble, granite, or metal now, a place for birds to sit, to shit.  A chance for some to learn something, but statues are not the whole story, they memorialize, they represent, they ignite, they glorify, they indicate, but they do not capture the universal history of anything. All were commissioned at one point, all were unveiled, ribbon cuttings and afternoon refreshments, news conferences perhaps, the sculptor politely answering questions, knowing the toil, the imperfections, the features, the anxiety of unlikeness.  The finished art is usually better than the subject, for all people have darkness.

Monuments seem different, more for the masses, more about ideas or efforts, initiatives and victories.  Less idolatry, more commemoration.  Statues of people are tenuous, somewhat endorsing and/or excusing lifelong behavior, certifying lifelong actions, forever sainting someone in a way, despite scandal, lameness, greed, or any other social distortion.  Perhaps generic faces are best, nameless muses, professional models, the artist's imagination.  Like the massive Statue of Liberty, Bartholdi and Effiel's creation, a gift from the French, depicting Libertas, the Roman goddess of Liberty,  unshackled and walking forward, raised flame, cradling a dovetail handled tablet with the date July 4, 1776 chiseled in Roman Numerals: JULY IV MDCCLXXVI.

In general, and eventually, the dumb will lose to the wise, the frantic will lose to the calm, the cowards will lose to the brave.  In life, in sports, in love, in business, in politics.  On all seven continents, both hemispheres, along the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, even in space, even on the moon.  Mars will be no different, but there will be no statues or monuments for the losers to blame.  It's not a place for injustice, not a place for chaos, there are no idols yet.