TERRE HAUTE — It’s the season of giving in Terre Haute.
Of course, this year the most popular presents Hauteans are giving each other are ulcers and insults. But, as the great “Cousin Eddie” Johnson once said, those are the gifts “that keep on giving, all year long.”
It would do each us good to read an open letter to our community from one of its newest residents — Irish immigrant Cormac O’Duffy. Featured on the cover of today’s Valley Life section of the Tribune-Star, that piece explains how pleasantly surprised O’Duffy was to discover his new residence, Terre Haute, was the hometown of the poet who wrote “Desiderata.” A copy of that poem adorned the wall of O’Duffy’s home in Ireland.
He’s not alone. Max Ehrmann’s “Desiderata” hangs on the walls of college dorm rooms, offices, museums, libraries, churches and homes all over the planet Earth. This week — 62 years after Ehrmann died, and 80 years since he copyrighted the poem — “Desiderata” and its author are still making news around the world.
In one story, a Princeton University historian said today’s self-help literature is essentially based on the serenity Ehrmann urged through that poem. A Chicago columnist implored his town to remember the line, “With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.” A Canadian publication compared a modern poet from that country with Ehrmann. And in the south African nation of Malawi, a college student wondered how a labor dispute had turned into rioting and looting on a campus, a place that should allow people to “go placidly amid the noise and haste; remember what peace there may be in silence,” as Ehrmann wrote.
Obviously, the poet’s message remains relevant elsewhere, but what about right here in Terre Haute?
Upon moving to this city last summer, Cormac O’Duffy explored Terre Haute to find its Max Ehrmann memorial. Sadly, folks searching this town for shrines to its world-famous poet will find only a Jelly-of-the-Month-Club kind of reward. There is a small plaque embedded into the foundation of the Vigo County Public Library Main Branch, and somewhat remotely located around the corner from its southside entrance. Thank goodness, a group known as the Friends of Max Ehrmann created that modest tribute, which quotes a phrase from “Desiderata.”
Otherwise, no other public acknowledgment of Ehrmann or the poem exists in this, his hometown.
O’Duffy asks how the community could commemorate a literary gem and its poet “who has cheered and comforted so many hearts.”
Such an idea would take time, energy and resources. Who has any of that to spare for something that illuminates a poem, based on life in Terre Haute, and that millions of people from Africa to Ireland to Wyoming turn to for solace?
Hmmm.
Well, a community-wide effort to design and raise funds for a Max Ehrmann statue or mural or sidewalk display would be infinitely more worthwhile than the time, energy and resources devoted to mudslinging in the Terre Haute mayoral election. A fraction of that political passion could make this shrine a reality.
The city’s arts community — from middle school, high school and college students to adults with hobbies to the pros — has been energized by the creation of the Downtown Arts Corridor along Seventh Street and could bring Ehrmann symbols to life. But everyday people — stick-figure artists, like me — could also offer ideas about what form it should take.
If you haven’t read “Desiderata” lately or don’t know much about Max Ehrmann, read Cormac’s piece in Valley Life. Then come up with your own vision of how the poet and poem could be represented on the Arts Corridor. It could come through a middle school or high school class discussion or your own dinner-table brainstorming session. I’m interested in seeing ideas — sincere ideas. Send them, by e-mail only, to me at mark.bennett@tribstar.com by noon Thursday.
Ehrmann, who lived from 1872-1945, loved to spend time at the corner of Seventh and Wabash “just kind of watching the world go by,” said Marylee Hagan, executive director of the Vigo County Historical Museum.
So, maybe a bronze likeness of Ehrmann sitting on a bench at the Crossroads of America, along the Arts Corridor would be fitting. Visitors could sit down beside Max and snap a picture with him.
Hagan and her husband traveled to Boston, where they saw a statue of that city’s colorful former mayor James Curley along its Irish Heritage Trail. Fellow travelers posed next to the metal mayor, handed Hagan the camera and she snapped the photo.
“They’re really human reactions to these folks,” Hagan said of the bronze-cast icons.
In Ireland, bronze plaques set into the sidewalks of Dublin trace the fictional journey of “Ulysses” character Leopold Bloom. Those markers honor James Joyce, the Irishman who wrote “Ulysses.”
“It’s really quite wonderful to walk around the city and see the homage they pay to him,” said Mary Kramer, executive director of Art Spaces Inc. and the Wabash Valley Outdoor Sculpture Collection.
Terre Haute history buffs have often pondered the need for public, artistic recognition of hometowners who left an imprint on people everywhere, Hagan said. Social activist Eugene Debs. Author Theodore Dreiser, and his songwriting brother Paul Dresser. Larry Bird. Max Ehrmann.
A representation of each would add something special to the city. But such an idea doesn’t have to be all or nothing. None of those guys are going to be offended if Terre Haute starts with just one of them. Debs, Dreiser, Dresser and Ehrmann have been gone for decades, and the alive-and-well Larry Bird won’t be the least bit bothered. When Indiana State University retired Bird’s jersey a few years ago, he was asked if he also deserved a statue, just like his friendly nemesis Magic Johnson has at Michigan State. “Magic has more statues than Saddam Hussein,” Bird quipped. “I don’t need a statue.”
You gotta love that Hoosier humility. But while Larry may not need a bronze image of himself, Terre Haute could benefit from one, simply to give locals and visitors a fond, visual reminder of a great era in this city that changed college basketball in America. Perhaps, though, we should defer to Bird’s humble nature, and start with Max Ehrmann.
Of course, bronze isn’t cheap, and projects such as these require creative, private fund-raising. “We usually have to go to the folks that are philanthropists in the community,” Hagan said.
Will they go for it? Who knows? But Kramer, whose group has overseen the addition of three significant displays to the Arts Corridor this year, said, “The city has been very actively supportive of displaying public art.”
With Ehrmann, artists have plenty to work with. If “Desiderata” received a James Joyce-style honor, with its phrases etched into sidewalk stones, each of us probably should pause our steps to re-read one particular passage from the poem …
“As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.”
A few steps later, we would find this …
“If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.”
So, could Terre Haute use a highly visible Max Ehrmann tribute? You betcha.
Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.
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