If ever a man deserved having his image preserved in bronze for his town, it’s Berlin George Myers. He’s but 93, not eligible to be one of Summerville’s founding fathers, except for three key attributes: innovativeness, leadership and vision.
Revisiting his significant sculpture by Garland Weeks when I had the time and privacy to see it from different angles was illuminating. I admired the marriage of cultural art, business and civic interests via the rendering of a gifted artist for a talented subject. Looking at the work head on, I saw a dapper man, remarkably fit in his ninth decade, proud of the past and present and still looking to the future with anticipation. The right side view reflects the hardworking, serious leader of a flourishing town and an equally successful business. The left side shows a bit more of the private Mr. Berlin, where the glimpse of a grin unveils his wit as well as the hint that he may just know a bit more about some particular subject than you. (Trust me: he probably does!)
I’ve only known him for 30 years but I totally agree with someone close to His Honor who asserts “this is a man, a rarity among politicians, a man who has no agenda.” His only “program” if you will, since I’ve known him, has been – he will tell you this himself – is what he truly believes to be best for his town.
While reflecting on this man and this image, I was reminded of someone else. It finally came to me: Benjamin Franklin – Mr. Ben. Granted, the two have a multitude of differences, but their commonalities are noteworthy.
Both are innovative. A young Mr. Berlin originated a system of tokens as payment in the commissary at his uncle’s lumber yard. Mr. Ben actually printed the first colonial money. Mr. Berlin organized a series of ways to store and preserve lumber, thereby keeping it alive and at the top of its worth – good business. Mr. Ben’s inventions include the cast iron stove, lightning rod, and the bifocal lens, all things which have made our lives more valuable and comfortable – also good business.
Both men are noted for dedication in their civic and business personas, working long hours and longer years – many more than most of their contemporaries. These efforts are honored in various ways, including each of their names on parkways and each being recreated in art.
Vision is perhaps their most shared ability. Mr. Berlin saw the need and started working on a perimeter roadway around Summerville about a half century ago, a local historic preserving and far-thinking achievement. Mr. Ben, who operated on an international stage, of course had more far-ranging visions mainly helping to create America, through both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, thus initiating and preserving our national history.
Oh, and doesn’t this quote from Mr. Ben conjure up someone in our midst? “A place for everything and everything in its place.”
Here’s my vision. Some future day a couple of Summervillians visiting our Nation’s Capitol or perhaps the City of Brotherly Love, will come across a sculpture of Benjamin Franklin. One Flower Towner, chin in hand, muses to the other, “Now think. Who does he remind you of?”