Try as it might, the state of Massachusetts cannot replace people's heartfelt expressions of love and respect with cold, meaningless words stamped on soulless metal signs.
Yet, that remains the latest plan as the state Highway Department wages a phony war on homemade overpass banners welcoming home troops from real wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
MassHighway has been fighting for more than a year to remove the banners and flags from overpasses, such as those that have welcomed local troops home that adorn bridges along Route 128 into Gloucester.
The public outcry that was raised last fall when the department began removing the banners prompted Gov. Deval Patrick to thankfully order a halt and search for a workable compromise.
But MassHighway's new idea of a compromise is that the banners and flags will still come down — replaced with official signs along the highways proclaiming "Welcome home" and "Thank you."
They've got to be kidding.
The plan is before a task force of veterans' agents, state legislators, and veterans organizations convened by Patrick last fall after the last attempt to remove the banners. It won't work — and it shouldn't.
A state authority cannot squelch citizens' genuine, heartfelt emotions, no matter how hard it tries. People place the banners because they are moved to welcome their individual family members and friends home from war, not because they want to make some generic statement of thanks.
A sign hanging from a Route 128 overpass that welcomes a local soldier home also shares the good news with the community that another local military veteran is coming safely home, and that's good for all of us to know. An "official" sign on the roadside could never be the same.
This is one case in which MassHighway is trying to solve a "problem" that just does not exist. The department claims the signs are a hazard because they might be blown off the overpasses and on to passing cars. But MassHighway cannot offer a single instance of anything like that happening.
Could it might happen? Probably — and that would be dangerous. But it's not as dangerous — or, we would suggest, as likely — as the very real problem of chunks of concrete falling from rotting overpasses onto the roads below.
If only MassHighway were as eager to fix that problem.
Many of those who place the flags and banners take care to see that they are securely attached to the inside of protective fences on the overpasses. Of course, MassHighway would be right to remove any banners that have been neglected and are in real danger of falling.
But beyond that, ordering the banners removed makes little sense. MassHighway should get off its overpass banner kick and spend its time on problems that really matter.
