sjrozan

Warren and JL, who post here, and I jaunted down to DC yesterday for a look at the Building Museum. Fine museum, good exhibits, well worth the trip. After we'd finished there we still had 2 hours before our train, so JL and I decided to stroll over for a look at the new WWII memorial. It was about a million soggy degrees in DC and a very long stroll but we did it anyway. (Aren't we intrepid?)

So okay, maybe "cheesy" is the wrong word. The thing's sure big, solid, and expensive enough. But I hated it instantly. JL called it "the John Wayne of memorials." This is a memorial to the glory of war. Its antecendents are the ancient Greek nation-states who made war on each other to prove how brave they were. Not for gain, not for defense, just for glory. The cost of war -- pain, destruction, death, confusion, disillusionment -- is barely alluded to in a wall of gold stars for the Gold Star Mothers. And then the memorial sweeps right on. And in the center of this set of hard-edged, muscular plinths is a pool with a lot of fountains. There's no visual quiet and there's no aural quiet, either. This is not a place for contemplation, of courage, loyalty, loss, anything. There's no sense here that war, even when it's inevitable and necessary, is a bad thing. This is a memorial whose aim is to stir the martial blood. So that later generations will feel an urge to prove they're the greatest, too.

How handy for the people who make wars.

sjrozan I'm a writer, at work on my 11th book. This blog is a record of random and less-random thoughts. If you want to know more about me, check my website, linked here. I also had a blog going from spring through late fall 2004 about the publishing process for my 9th book, ABSENT FRIENDS. That blog's called "Progress" and you can find the link here. I won't make any more entries but I'm leaving it up in case anyone's interested; the process is more or less the same from book to book.
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Previous Entry :: Next Entry Read/Post Comments (5)		2004-06-17 5:21 PM The cheesiest memorial Warren and JL, who post here, and I jaunted down to DC yesterday for a look at the Building Museum. Fine museum, good exhibits, well worth the trip. After we'd finished there we still had 2 hours before our train, so JL and I decided to stroll over for a look at the new WWII memorial. It was about a million soggy degrees in DC and a very long stroll but we did it anyway. (Aren't we intrepid?) So okay, maybe "cheesy" is the wrong word. The thing's sure big, solid, and expensive enough. But I hated it instantly. JL called it "the John Wayne of memorials." This is a memorial to the glory of war. Its antecendents are the ancient Greek nation-states who made war on each other to prove how brave they were. Not for gain, not for defense, just for glory. The cost of war -- pain, destruction, death, confusion, disillusionment -- is barely alluded to in a wall of gold stars for the Gold Star Mothers. And then the memorial sweeps right on. And in the center of this set of hard-edged, muscular plinths is a pool with a lot of fountains. There's no visual quiet and there's no aural quiet, either. This is not a place for contemplation, of courage, loyalty, loss, anything. There's no sense here that war, even when it's inevitable and necessary, is a bad thing. This is a memorial whose aim is to stir the martial blood. So that later generations will feel an urge to prove they're the greatest, too. How handy for the people who make wars. Read/Post Comments (5) Previous Entry :: Next Entry Back to Top