Confederate president's name stripped from iron archway at Fort Monroe

MY COMMENT -

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." These are the words of President Abraham Lincoln during his Second Inaugural Address.

I see no distinction in his words between Union or Rebel soldiers. I see the words "care," "borne the battle," "bind up the nations wounds," "lasting peace," "widow and orphan," without delineation.
On April 9, 1865, Ulysses S. Grant, commander of Union forces, after the signing of the terms of surrender with General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate forces said, “The war is over; the rebels are our countrymen again; and the best sign of rejoicing after the victory will be to abstain from all demonstrations in the field."
"The Rebels are our countrymen again."

Our countrymen.

So too, Jeff Davis became our countryman again.
The "letters" on the sign would have made a great conversation starter to a teachable moment to an inquisitive passerby, but now are lost.
If you have ever been to that great and terrible battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; should all the monuments and memorials to Confederate soldiers be removed?
Did you know that for years following the end of the war, veterans from BOTH sides used to converge on Gettysburg, reminisce, and pay mutual respects?
Christian forgiveness requires repentance, an admission of wrongdoing, an apology and then a promise not to repeat the behavior. That was accomplished at Appomattox Court House with the surrender of the Confederate Army. Repentance and then forgiveness occurred with a gentleman’s agreement and a handshake.
Are we so lost as a people that we cannot be bothered to remember and study the events of the past that shape today for all posterity?
Monuments are made of concrete and stone for a reason, they last. That was the great gift of wisdom from our forbearer’s.
Forget the past, or hide it and you lose a link to the chain of custody of our national souls.
“American” can only mean what it was intended to mean if we move forward as a whole. A house divided cannot stand.

Growing up, I watched my mother, who was raised on a family farm in Southern Wisconsin, bake from scratch. Often a recipe would call for salt and sugar. Salt was necessary in order to balance out the flavor and help create chewiness in a cookie. Without it, the flavor would fall flat, and the cookie would be too sweet and inedible.

So too, our nation requires the bitter and the sweet together, lest our nation become unpalatable.