Honoring the Dead
Very little time had passed following the attacks of September 11, before the question was raised on how the lives of so many would be honored. While there have been both public and private ceremonies to honor the dead, there are those that believe that a number of memorials should be constucted. I’m neither for nor against such memorials, although if none were built, I honestly doubt that the events of that day or lives lost would be remembered any less.
One such memorial that is currently being constructed is a statue based on the popular photo of the three NYC firefighters hoisting an American flag amidst the rubble of the Twin Towers. But instead of portraying the event with historical accuracy, the statue has apparently fallen victim to political correctness. The ethnic backgrounds of the firefighters portrayed have purposely been changed to display one Hispanic male, one Black male, and one White male. If a staute is desired to show the ethnic diversity of those lives that were bravely lost, then by all means construct such a memorial that would symbolize that diversity. However, I don’t think such creative privileges should be made with historical events. If these changes are seen as minor, then why not make other such minor changes such as having a female portrayed as well? And what about other ethnic backgrounds, are they not worthy of being represented? While memorializing our dead is nothing new, the process of doing so, and how we do it, often says less about those that we are honoring and more about ourselves.