Before you dare read any further, just understand that vandalizing anything that is not your personal property is not only illegal but wrong. I do not support the vandalism of an object that stands for something as a form or protest. There is a future for peaceful people.

The news has exploded recently. You cannot turn on the evening news without hearing some new breaking story pertaining to the protests occurring across our broken nation. It can be hard to figure out what all is happening across our beloved country right now, one thing is for certain, people are using their voices. From Charlottesville to Atlanta, Texas to Flordia, demonstrations are taking place as you read this to protest the Confederate monuments that stand throughout the south. I am so glad people are standing up for what they believe in! These acts, using our treasured freedom of speech, are precisely what our country is made for and exactly what millions of soldiers have continuously fought centuries for! The only possible way for our society to evolve is for our opinions to evolve too.

The catalyst for the change people strive for is speaking up and standing strong on our own opinions like many did in Charlottesville and other towns everywhere just this past week.

No matter how much peace and control there is in a period of spread protesting, we simply do not live in a perfect world. Unfortunately, this means one thing is inevitable, pain and destruction. I am not talking about destruction in the burning down of entire cities, but more familiarly in the vandalism of these Confederate monuments. On August 13th, a monument located in the Piedmont Park of Atlanta was defaced with red paint. The Peace Monument is a Confederate soldier kneeling before an angel.

The story behind the Peace Monument entails so much more than the Confederacy.

Around the era of the Confederacy, there was the Old Guard Battalion of the Gate City Guard. This was made up of men who felt that they were too old to be on active duty in the Gate City Guard. The whole objective of this group was to assist Atlanta in keeping law and order. This monument does not represent the values of the Confederacy. It represents the people who did not let age stop them from protecting their home, a city many of us today love and cherish immensely, Atlanta. Did this monument deserve what it got? Maybe in 2017, we need our own Gate City Guard to keep the law and order in Atlanta.

That same Sunday, residents in Kentucky woke up to a statue of John Breckinridge Castleman defaced with bright orange paint. He is most commonly seen for being a Confederate soldier. This statue does have more to do with the Confederacy. It was an easy target. What people fail to do is read their history and understand why these statues were placed, to begin with. Do not get me wrong, some monuments are very literally to show the support of the Confederate values. If you research John Breckinridge Castleman, you would find that his career does not end after the Civil War. What too many people fail to also note is that despite serving as a major in the Confederate Army, he went on to become a brigadier general in the U.S. Army. Sure, John Breckinridge Castleman fought for the Confederacy, but does that mean he is not honorable in fighting for our country in the U.S. Army. After the fall of the Confederacy, he put his life on the life for the exact same army that we all have loved ones serving in today. No matter what your opinion is with the Confederacy, he did not deserve to have his statue defaced. When do certain things people do outweigh the others? I definitely have no clue so I guess it is a good thing I am not the judge of it. It is a splendid thing that none of us are. We all strive to right our wrongs. We would not want someone throwing orange paint at us for something that we did after we changed and did honorable things afterward.

Vandalism is wrong in all cases.

I could give you a lengthy list of examples where monuments, like the Peace Monument and the statue of John Breckinridge Castleman, have been vandalized when these peaceful protests turn astray. There are other ways to peacefully protest just like there are other ways to protest what ever it is you stand firmly in, whether that be getting rid of the Confederate monuments or something else. We are bringing up some touching topics with these demonstrations. Subjects that we generally believe, one way or another, based on our core morals and values the developed deep within our souls. There is a reason we were taught to treat others the exact same way we want to be treated. Just in whatever to believe, whatever you stand for, never forget that the future is for peaceful people.