I Am Adam

I am Adam.  I stand safely tucked away in a small room in The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  It is one of those rooms that does not get a lot of traffic.   But still people come by and gaze at me.  I’m not made in the image of an actual person but rather a biblical one, the first man.  I’m an allegory or a symbol or both.  I can never quite get that right.  I’m made of the finest marble and I’m really quite beautiful.  But I’m not outside and not displayed prominently in the Courtyard or in the halls of Greco, Roman or Egyptian art.  I am safe for now.  I think. 

But then are any of us safe?  I keep thinking of that old epitaph that went something like.  ‘At first they came for the Jews and I didn’t say anything as I was not a Jew.  Then they came for...’ And, on and on, one group or another that he was not a part of and he said nothing, till they came for him and there was no one left to object.  I’m thinking of that because at first, they came Robert E. Lee and others of us made in the likeness of some dead Confederate Soldier.  Why?  We’re not real.  And, we’re about people who’ve been dead for decades or centuries even.  It is said to be about male dominance or slavery or systemic racism.  But then they came for Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant and those were the guys who ended slavery.  I know this because their statues brag about it all the time.  We have a way of communicating with each other.  It would take too long to explain it to you but we know when one of us is gone, as they go silent. 

Directly across town the City Council wants to get rid of the statue of Theodore Roosevelt in front of the Museum of Natural History.  That makes no sense, as Theodore Roosevelt more or less created the Museum of National History.  Maybe they mean to get rid of the whole Museum too.  I mean why not while they are at it?  God only knows how many objectionable things are in there.  And, Theodore the statue that is, is not happy and they’re lucky he’s only a statue.  The real Theodore Roosevelt would thrash them all.  It seems they object to the figures, one an African and the other an Indian, standing alongside him.  Why?  They look quite proud and the three of them look like they really like each other.  In fact, the statues do.  They’ve said so on many an occasion.  And, they are quite bewildered by it all.  The African on the right has asked that very question, why?  The Indian on the left, asked how?  It’s a rather large and heavy statue. 

But by now you can see why I’m worried.  I may be safely tucked away and not in view of the larger public but the statue killers don’t seem to be driven by any reason.  It’s just, get the statues.  And, I am Adam.  If anyone ever represented male dominance, it’s me.  Although I’m not so sure of that, as I’m about to eat the apple.  But please, don’t let them get me and if they do, please remember me.  I am quite beautiful and I’m not just some symbol, I’m art. 

Dicens simle factum est 

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