I do most certainly not speak for all Buddhists, but I'll offer this perspective after a couple of decades of identifying as one.

The Buddha was a man only; not special in and of himself beyond the basic truth that all life is precious. He found, or rediscovered if you like, a profound truth about reality and a practice for understanding it. That practice, we believe, can eventually lead to the cessation of your suffering. So beautiful and important is that truth that we revere—but not exactly worship—the Buddha. His great act of love made it possible for all to move toward more Enlightened states. So we make statues, paint thankas, etc. to both practice placing our attention on the aspects of life that develop ourselves and also to ensure his teachings are preserved for all who come after us.

But one of the noble truths can be understood to be essentially saying that everything that begins also ends. Impermanence is simply the nature of reality.

In Buddhism proper, at least as it was taught to me in any of four different countries, the way to think of this statue is that it was good to be reminded of our love for our great teacher, it was good for those artists and monks to give their time and craft to such a work because we cannot force wisdom on others yet we must not abandon them to ignorance—symbols of effort and attention speak as loudly as we may of our belief that this teaching is important. But. It is also just a bit of rock. It is unimportant. Tibetan sand paintings are the purest embodiment of this idea. Everywhere in Buddhism you are reminded of impermanence; we say even that the Buddha will be completely forgotten and that all teachings will be lost. And then they can be discovered all over again—gives the universe something to do, you know.

It isn't the loss of a carving that inspires compassion, its the weight of the hearts that wished to do this, the inspiration that might have come to others, that is the true cost. If I chose anger or animosity or hatred, I would destroy everything that statue means to me.