11-11-2007, 11:32 PM
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/11/m...dom_1.html
November 11, 2007
Monuments to Wimpdom
By Duncan Maxwell Anderson
(Selections..see link above for the whole article)
"* The Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.......It lists the names of the war's 58,000 fallen Americans and . . . nothing else. "
"...Not to honor what they did. Just a reminder that they're dead. Thanks."
* The Flight 93 National Memorial. ......For their heroism in overpowering four Islamic hijackers and foiling their attempt to destroy the White House or the Capitol, the passengers are to be honored with . . . an empty field. It's little comfort that the field is surrounded by a stand of red maple trees planted in an arc that eerily resembles the crescent of Islam. The design's original name: "The Crescent of Embrace."
* The National September 11 Memorial........ Just two huge, square, "reflecting" pools. Maybe you can gaze at your navel through them. In a complex slated to cost $1 billion, this urban swamp is called "Reflecting Absence."
"...What these modern war memorials have in common with each other is nothing. They portray nothingness. They have no people in them, never mind men carrying guns or swords, statues of Winged Victory, or even doves of peace. Just death and names -- grief without glory."
"...Oddly enough, for structures that are purposely barren, the promotional literature about all of them says their purpose involves "healing." By "healing," I infer they must mean "sitting in the corner, licking your wounds and whining pitifully."
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I have to agree with the author... I find the new style memorials to be incomplete...they do induce the sense of loss...but that is it. "Loss for what" is the missing ingredient. The Vietnam Memorial does draw thousands and it is an emotional experience for many...but it emphasizes the loss of life....period.
The Flight 93 Memorial should have, IMHO, emphasized that acting to save others, even to losing one's life, is the highest form of bravery.
The Twin Towers Memorial...reading about it from afar...has been a long delayed and confused beurocratic mess....something calling attention to the office workers who lost their lives...and their acts of bravery in addition the the firefigher and police heroic actions that day should have been emphasized, IMHO, a memorial that inspires a nation to fight a common enemy.
November 11, 2007
Monuments to Wimpdom
By Duncan Maxwell Anderson
(Selections..see link above for the whole article)
"* The Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.......It lists the names of the war's 58,000 fallen Americans and . . . nothing else. "
"...Not to honor what they did. Just a reminder that they're dead. Thanks."
* The Flight 93 National Memorial. ......For their heroism in overpowering four Islamic hijackers and foiling their attempt to destroy the White House or the Capitol, the passengers are to be honored with . . . an empty field. It's little comfort that the field is surrounded by a stand of red maple trees planted in an arc that eerily resembles the crescent of Islam. The design's original name: "The Crescent of Embrace."
* The National September 11 Memorial........ Just two huge, square, "reflecting" pools. Maybe you can gaze at your navel through them. In a complex slated to cost $1 billion, this urban swamp is called "Reflecting Absence."
"...What these modern war memorials have in common with each other is nothing. They portray nothingness. They have no people in them, never mind men carrying guns or swords, statues of Winged Victory, or even doves of peace. Just death and names -- grief without glory."
"...Oddly enough, for structures that are purposely barren, the promotional literature about all of them says their purpose involves "healing." By "healing," I infer they must mean "sitting in the corner, licking your wounds and whining pitifully."
______________________________________________
I have to agree with the author... I find the new style memorials to be incomplete...they do induce the sense of loss...but that is it. "Loss for what" is the missing ingredient. The Vietnam Memorial does draw thousands and it is an emotional experience for many...but it emphasizes the loss of life....period.
The Flight 93 Memorial should have, IMHO, emphasized that acting to save others, even to losing one's life, is the highest form of bravery.
The Twin Towers Memorial...reading about it from afar...has been a long delayed and confused beurocratic mess....something calling attention to the office workers who lost their lives...and their acts of bravery in addition the the firefigher and police heroic actions that day should have been emphasized, IMHO, a memorial that inspires a nation to fight a common enemy.