By Betsy Overcash

Today, I chose to ride down Innes Street to see for myself where “Fame” once stood. She was sculpted to show her comforting the dying soldier that she held in her arms as he was dying for a cause he wholeheartedly believed in — right or wrong.

Did Salisbury’s city council do the same thing or did they take the path of least resistance?

Are we going to take down or close every business that someone chooses to “defame” because they don’t like it or believe in it? I think not.

In all of my 76 years in Salisbury and with part of those years as a member of St. John’s, where I looked at her every time I attended, never did I think that she represented anything other than being God’s messenger sent to comfort a dying soldier — Union, confederate, Black or white.

The tears of all the mothers, fathers, siblings, etc. all ran down their faces in the same way when they learned of their dying loved ones’ demise. I think that each of them would have been comforted to know that God, himself, cared enough to send an angel to each and every one of the soldiers to carry them to their everlasting home.

In one of the photos on the internet, there is a stained glass window at St. John’s of Jesus kneeling and praying. Who was he praying for? I think it was all mankind — no matter the color of their skin, their placement in our society and their education. It was all of mankind.

We find comfort in knowing that he is still kneeling over all of us no matter who we are, whether that’s the person or persons who took it using themselves to throw pain on her and the people who voted against what the majority wanted  for whatever reason.

If this situation is this important, then it should have been put to a vote and let everyone have a part in the process. Signs should have covered the streets of Rowan County as they do when it is time to vote for those who represent us. That way, we might have known in case we are not on the internet all the time or in case we don’t take the Salisbury Post.

The blank plot of earth that “Fame” touched is barren except for the flowers that some people had placed there in memory. I am sure their eyes cried the same tears as I cried in my heart. Our tears need to be shed for one another and for all mankind. Oh, that God would send an angel to touch each of us that we would be one in him. After all, all lives matter.

It is sad to think that eventually there will be generations that will never know that she and her soldier were as if they were never there.

Betsy Overcash has lived in Salisbury all but 10 years of her life.