November 11th: Acknowledging sacrifice, celebrating peace

Remember what Nov. 11 used to be called?  Armistice Day.

Since the presidency of Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, it has been renamed Veterans Day - and I miss the former term which was a memorial to the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month when the guns of World War I fell silent. It was a dedication to a war that was supposed to end all wars and, in Woodrow Wilson’s words “make the world safe for democracy.”

In my boyhood, parades would set out on Armistice Day from the Armory for Mounted Commands on Stenton Avenue. Two bygone cannons and the explosive balls in concrete as well as the tanks were openly on display.  Then soldiers from World War I would join the march, followed by even older vets from forgotten battlegrounds of earlier periods. Even a few vets from the Spanish-American war joined the procession. Some wore uniforms, some were still in shell-shocked condition, all marching uphill to honor the end of a devastating and tragic war.

My motive for frowning on this change of title has to do with the endless military “progress” in forging ever deadlier weapons for always-more-horrible wars. “Armistice” basically means ceasefire, whereas “Veterans” draws attention to fighters.  It does not represent human hopes or “progress” toward peace, but merely acknowledges those warriors and the wars that foist ever-more harmful poisons upon the planet that was once our Eden.

The golden Independent Man who stands atop the Rhode Island statehouse underwent a recent restoration in that same Stenton Armory at corner of North Main Street, across from the North Burial Ground, Providence’s oldest municipal cemetery, dating back to 1700.   The Independent Man  is back up atop its dome-home, our elegant neo-classical capitol designed by McKim, Mead & White which features the fourth largest structural-stone dome in the world.

The statue, originally named “Hope,” was designed by George Brewster, cast by the Gorham Manufacturing Company, and installed in 1899. It represents freedom and independence and alludes to the independent spirit which led Roger Williams to settle and establish a colony in Rhode Island.

It emphasizes (I hope) that looking backward as well as forward is an important way to remember the toll of war. Freedom and independence can only flourish in times of peace when words can replace wars. This November we must remember that pledge to end war and help the world recover its support for democracy.

Israel was destined to be a “lamp unto the nations,” and I pray in this month between Thanksgiving and Hanukkah for an Israel that will be safe and secure and be shining that lamp of hope for all nations.

MIKE FINK (mfink33@aol.com) is a professor emeritus at the Rhode Island School of Design.