"The memorial doesn't have a solemn design"
Sunday, July 3, 2016
To wade in or to not wade in at the WWII memorial?
Greater Washington blog: Wading in the World War II memorial is emphatically not allowed. Solemnity is the officially preferred emotion. But the memorial's buoyant design inherently invokes liveliness, and strict rules violate the spirit of the war against fascism.
"The memorial doesn't have a solemn design"
"The memorial doesn't have a solemn design"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
There are signs at Point Park banning "playing" on the lawns.
They're just getting in the spirit of the Marines wading ashore at Iwo Jima.....without the blood.
Frankly, if kids do it I don't see what's so terrible. Adults are a different matter.
You make my point.
It's the adults that would be expected to know better.
Play. Wade, swim, play with toys, make noise, get wet, be alive, laugh, yell, eat delicious treats, let the dogs run.
It is Washington summer, after all.
Say, you're dead from war and your ghost decides to hang around the memorial they made for you. What does your ghost want to see, a bunch of people being sad and solemn and weepy and introspective and crisply well behaved? Yes? Then my ghost will be somewhere else hanging out where people are happy and free and most likely drunk and doing very stupid hilarious interesting things like swinging from ropes and dropping into a pond.
Yeah, I know, ♪ R-E-S-P-E-C-T tell you what it means to me sockittome sockittome sockittome sockittome sockittome sockittome. Today I'll take a walk and watch a couple hundred minority type children, so many mothers alone bringing their children, and so many families bringing their very young children to hear Souza music, and another band, and see fireworks close up and intimate. They'll bring their own amusements to keep the kids occupied, they'll buy popular toys vended right there, zooming helicopters set flying by pulling a string that twirls the blade's axis and glow in the dark, so those things flying all around. Imagine three and four year olds running all over the place. They gather at the intersections in large numbers for the light to change, captive audience right there shifting around, paused momentarily, otherwise they move rather fast. This might be turning out to be my favorite holiday on account of all those tiny energetic kids. It used to be New Years, then shifted to Halloween. Before that it was Christmas. Those are pretty good holidays to prevail against.
This is not the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but a memorial to all who fought in WWII, so if it is kids, let them have fun. I would just ask the adults to remember this is not just a park to enjoy on a summer day (even if it is just a silent thank you for their service and sacrifice).
WW2 ended 71 years ago. That's a long time. And if you put in something that looks like a wading pool, kids will wade in it.
Besides, its not like we're commemorating the Holocaust or the end of Slavery.
It looks like it has steps down into the pool. Doesn't that invite wading? Particularly if it's hot out?
Post a Comment