The Sky Line Requiem

I almost wanted to begin to perceive this article from an anthropological point of view, or maybe even categorize it as a part of anthropological research. Why, because Paul Goldberger talks about how the "homogeneous" society decided on the design of a memorial for their former friends of this "homogeneous" community. He studied, and reported on the way the people of Oklahoma reacted negatively to the first architect, Paul Spreiregen.
Goldberger also gives a little social and cultural analysis the use of memorials; he says that "great memorials" are abstract to give off the essence of peace and awe. He also comments on the change of significance for firemen, who became icons, and for fences, which became memorials that one could attach personal messages and memorabilia. This all happened after 9/11, but not after the bombing in Oklahoma, which happened 6 years earlier. What I noticed as probably the biggest and most powerful part of his article is his critique on how Americans will make anything, no matter how horrible a tragedy, entertaining. But is it really entertaining to sit in a room and re-experience and explosion? Or is it supposed to make people think of how lucky they are to be alive? Does it make those people respect those who have been "killed".
Therefore, I don't see why making memorials would not be considered an art. Architects are creating these great abstractions that also function to persuade people to look at it and ponder, wonder, dream, reminisce, and possibly hurt and cry. And like Goldberger said, memorials are "most effective [...] when viewed as a series of abstract shapes" because then it starts to give the essence of "peace and awe".
The reason I chose this image of an old man touching the Vietnam Memorial is because, one: I watched a documentary on Maya Lin's journey to create this masterpiece and two: you can see how the memorial makes the old man connect, possibly to his past. I believe any art can cause a person to go back in time, and either grieve, or reminisce.