Fleur-de-lis

Aug 26, 2006 by

Iron and Green I defendThe fleur-de-lis. This stylized lily has come to be New Orleans’ little red ribbon of rememberance, solidarity, and pride. It is seen everywhere now on T-shirts, bumper stickers, business promos and lots and lots of tattoos. This coming week we will surely see many fleurs-de-lis as the anniversary of the great flood surges into view.

I pondered the meaning of the symbol and its meaning to our city. The modern interpretation of the fleur-de-lis stems from its association with the ressurection. It represents renewal. A dictionary search of renewal presents some good words that should be in our hearts, minds and actions as we renew our city.

REGENERATE rE-‘je-ne-rAt
-restored to a better, higher, or more worthy state
We must regenerate the tourism industry.
We must regenerate our levee systems.

REVIVE ri-‘vIv
-to restore from a depressed, inactive, or unused state : bring back
We must revive our spirits.
We must revive our wetlands.

REBUILD rE-‘bild
-to make extensive repairs to
We must rebuild our homes and public buildings.
We must rebuild our standing as a great city.

REPEAT ri-‘pEt
-to say, do, or accomplish something again
We must constantly repeat ourselves to get the stories of this city out of the city.
We must repeat our own stories to each other so that we can deal with them.
We must find a house. Gut. REPEAT.

RESUME ri-‘züm
-to return to or begin again after interruption
We must resume our daily lives.
We must resume thinking about the long now.

REPLACE ri-‘plAs
-to put something new in the place of
We must replace our city and federal government.
We must replace our sense of victimization with a sense of pride in our courage.

REPLENISH ri-‘ple-nish
-to fill with inspiration or power
We must replenish our faith in ourselves.
We must replenish our faith in each other.

REJUVENATE ri-‘jü-v&-“nAt
-to make young or youthful again : give new vigor to
We must rejuvenate our cultural traditions by making sure our kids grow up with them.

REFRESH ri-‘fresh
-to update or renew (as an image, a display screen, or the contents of a computer memory) especially by sending a new signal
We must refresh the image of this city from one of suffering to one of hope.(The technology aspect of this definition is appropriate as it may be new technologies that accomplish this goal.)

RENEW ri-‘nü
-to make like new : restore to freshness, vigor, or perfection
We must renew New Orleans.

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