Sad made sadder

Last summer a former student of ours, Jenna Pauloski, took many photos of the NJ landscape. They included so many interesting places and unexpected perspectives that we are still discovering some of the details hidden within.
Unfortunately some memorials take a sad moment or memory and make it sadder, when instead they should have helped create closure and even celebration. The rush to build has created some unfortunate memorials like this United Flight 93 Memorial. It is clearly intended to memorialize the tragic, yet heroic, efforts of the passengers on that flight. But the photo they selected shows a much earlier era United aircraft than the contemporary grey and blue ones they would have been using on 9/11/2001. It may seem picky, but a 1968 photo for a 2001 tragedy ends up looking lazy or sloppy.

There is some controversy today over how long it is taking to build the World Trade Center Memorial in New York. But one of the (many) reasons it is taking so long is that they are being very careful, very diligent, and very aware of the countless details. At such a high visibility memorial, any error or misstatement will result ni a media frenzy only compound the pain and loss.