Flight 93 Memorial: Offensive

Back when Mr. Siriano was still speaking to me (that would be yesterday, before I wrote the post below) he sent his latest editorial for the National Ledger.  It's an excellent piece about the design of the Flight 93 Memorial.  I watched the slide show and frankly found the design description with its phony, overwrought prose nauseating.  The architects' overwhelming emphasis is on the "Crescent of Embrace" and on integrating the design with Nature, to the point where they seem to be more interested in rehabilitating a strip mine; memorializing the victims and heroes is an afterthought   They went into great detail about the species of plants that they would use, but cynically exploited the general ignorance about the plants they intend to use.  For instance, they say weirdly, gratuitously:  "Rudbeckia hirta: blooms September 11"  Actually, Black-eyed Susans bloom all summer.  And of course, the "Crescent of Embrace" is planted entirely in Acer rubrum, you know, red maple, so on a given day in October you can fly over the memorial and see the world's biggest ad for the Red Crescent Society.  Remember?  The aid society founded by Clara al-Barton?  And don't fail to notice that there is a "Sacred Ground" area that is described as "the final resting place for the crew and passengers of Flight 93": not a single cross, Star of David, dove, flaming bush, nothing to indicate in what context most of the people resting there would define "sacred."  Just a big red crescent- for the hijackers who killed them.

Oh, yes: not a single American flag to be seen.

Mr. Siriano mentions that  The Ledger changed his original title, which was "Is it Time for a Crusade?"  A much better title, and the answer is yes.  I'm sending this and the Ledger article to my friends and Congressmen. 

Update on Sunday, September 11, 2005 at 11:21AM by bbmoe

Even better than the Ledger article is A.M.'s post which conveys much more passion and includes several links with remarkable and grimly humorous visuals.  He also has links to the people in charge, including Joanne Hanley, superintendent and Gale Norton, who has the final say in this. 

For a link to contact your elected representatives, go here at Townhall.