Memorials are tricky.

You’ve probably heard of the troubles with the proposed memorial for Eisenhower.

The most successful examples are, of course, Lincoln’s, Washington’s and the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial in Washington. Finding a name on that wall—hard to do when the 58,000 of them are not arranged alphabetically—brings that fallen soldier to life for loved ones.

The Armenian Genocide Memorial on the Greenway is another success. I was skeptical. Would it be like the starving Polish horsemen that for stood for years on the Common, the Irish famine memorial at the corner of School and Washington streets or the firemen’s memorial behind the State House?

Such sentimentalized caricatures make you laugh instead of honoring the tragedy or the heroes.

The Armenian Heritage Park turned out to be lovely and interesting. It evokes an experience beyond the catastrophe it commemorates. It contributes to the entire city, not just to a single group of people.

In the last few decades a new kind of memorial has become trendy. Spontaneously, teddy bears, flowers, notes and all kinds of flotsam and jetsam are tossed into a pile at the site of a tragedy. We have such a memorial at Copley Square in memory of the Marathon bombings.

It’s understandable that people want to do something when tragedies befall us. But the collection of objects at a site has become a cliché. It borders on entertainment. It shows signs of what one person I know calls the “grief industry.” It lacks a certain New England dignity. And what do you do with all that stuff?

That’s why a new response to the Marathon bombings has such appeal. Dreamed up by Charlestown resident Diane Valle, it doesn’t wallow or reek of cliché. Instead of memorializing, it offers celebration and splendor. Continue reading →