purple motes

Richard Evelyn Byrd held the title Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy. He claimed the first North Pole flight in 1926, flew non-stop across the Atlantic in 1927 (less than two months after Charles Lindbergh's celebrated transatlantic flight), and flew over the South Pole in 1929. Byrd received the U.S. Medal of Honor.

A statue of Byrd stands across from the main gate for Arlington National Cemetery. The base of the statue declares "UPON THE BRIGHT GLOBE HE CARVED HIS SIGNATURE OF COURAGE".

Post-modern thinkers like to think that human beings make the world with their representations. But don't be deluded. To a real bird, a statue of Byrd is just another rock.

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