At the dawn of the 20th Century, two families owned large tracts of land from which Friendship Heights would come to be: the Elds and the Shoemakers. A coat of arms, traced respectively, to British and German origins, is associated with each name:
If
these coats of arms are used as the raw material for creating our own design,
we of course can be accused of falling into the common error of accepting these
as family coats of arms. (See
endnote.) In fact, the Shoemaker and Eld
individuals represented by these coats of arms may very well have been completely
unrelated to the Shoemakers and Elds of early Friendship Heights. Still, the symbols within these coats of arms
represent laudable qualities that are worthy of our consideration. Moreover, we might adopt them on the basis of
a pragmatic rationale that makes it more logical to use these coats of arms rather than ones associated with surnames
unknown to the founding and early days of Friendship Heights.
We
now proceed by combining certain elements from the Eld and Shoemaker coats of
arms into a unique one to suit our purposes.
Here is the proposed coat of arms for the Village of Friendship Heights:
DESCRIPTION
The
background of the shield is silver. Silver symbolizes nobility, peace and
serenity. These qualities undergird the
Village of Friendship Heights. It is a
noble place, a refuge that is at peace with itself and the world beyond its
borders.
The
chevron signifies protection of one
engaged in some notable enterprise or faithful service. This symbol honors the enterprising early
builders, the later developers, and community activists who all worked hard to
preserve the integrity of the neighborhood.
The chevron is blue. The color blue stands for piety and
sincerity. In this sense, the Village
can be understood as a neighborly place where all co-exist together (as if
under one roof).
The
tree symbolizes antiquity, life,
beauty. It is combined with the castle, which signifies strength and
fortitude; a symbol of defense and of steadfast individuals. To the Village this dual symbol has a double
meaning:
1) that the beauty of the natural
landscape (its green spaces, the so-called Bergdoll tract, and the life-giving
waters and farms, fields and fruit trees that once abounded here) is not
forgotten despite the towering edifices, and
2) that its strength inheres in the
well-grounded individualism of its people, molded as it has been over a century
of persevering life’s challenges – a century that has witnessed two world wars,
economic depressions, and socio-cultural changes, adversity and malaise. Surrounding most of the castle is the color red.
Red is the military color for excellence and fortitude; symbolic of
nobility, boldness and ferocity – qualities characterizing the travails of the
past century that were distilled into the fabric of the community known as
Friendship Heights.
The
knight with battle-axe stands for
strength, intellect, and authority exercised in the execution of one’s
duty. (The battle-axe faces away from
the partridge, as if defending it.) The
Shoemakers were Quakers and Quakers are advocates of non-violence. The meaning here is that a strong defense is
predicated as much upon strengths of moral character and intellect, as it is
upon the force of arms – arms used only to defend oneself or others.
The
partridge is a symbol of truth. This community is savvy about who we are as a
people and about what is really going on in the world around us. We realize the fragility of that truth and
willingly stand up to defend it. To do
so is the noblest undertaking of all.
Depicting
three devices on a shield brings a
balance steeped in tradition. The tradition of the Village of Friendship
Heights is, as the name suggests, friendship
– as this tradition was then, it is now and ever shall be.
The family crest is situated on top
of the helmet. The four plumes (feathers) represent the four directions of the
physical world – north, south, east and west.
The star in the center of the
crest symbolizes spirit, hope, constancy and celestial goodness.
Finally, the red, white and blue found
both in the family crest and in the shield
identify the Village’s colors with those of the American republic.
PROPOSED: That the community members comprising the
Village of Friendship Heights adopt the newly
minted coat of arms, thereby embracing the foregoing symbols and identifying
with the qualities that these symbols represent.
† Heraldry,
an invention of European feudal society, is a formal system by which coats of arms and other
armorial bearings are devised, described, and regulated. Heraldic symbols can be used by being paraded
about in colorful ceremonies. When used
in this way these symbols impart to spectators the character of those taking
part, as defined by the composition of their coats of arms and other armorial
bearings that are on display. Similarly,
when used on clothing or letterhead, for example, a coat of arms acts as a kind
of icon, logo or branding instrument.
Strictly
speaking, and contrary to popular belief, a coat of arms was (and still is)
bestowed by a sovereign upon individuals
only. A coat of arms does not even
belong to the rest of that individual’s particular family or its progeny, let
alone to other families who happen to have that same surname. And so, for purists, to consider assigning a
coat of arms to an entity such as Friendship Heights probably seems a bit
absurd. However, symbols are symbols,
whether they are heraldic or not.
The
meanings that symbols have garnered over time are capable of evoking an
immediate, primordial awareness in observers.
These symbols might be explicitly understood or only subliminally
apprehended. Either way, a coat of arms
composed of a myriad of symbols is a collective construction conveying multiple
meanings. By so doing a coat of arms
sends a powerful message.
To construct a coat of arms, therefore, is to
construct a collective imagery that identifies its bearer. It can be deciphered at a glance. To limit such a useful device to the formal
system of heraldry would be to reserve its use only to the elites of those
nation-states who control the heraldic system.
In other words, to feel inhibited from using heraldic devices would be to
abdicate one’s own sovereign power to the state; it would be an overt admission
of the inferior position of the individual to that of the state. This nation was founded upon the
inviolability of the individual – the only source from whom the state derives
its power. To deny oneself the innate
value of the image as portrayed in a coat of arms is to deny one’s own
sovereign liberty. And so, to randomly
choose symbols common to heraldry in order to design a homespun coat of arms is
a noble act undertaken by the sovereign
self. Such an act typifies the
fiercely independent character of those who claim Friendship Heights as their
home.
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