|
I drive past the memorial site on a regular basis, and for some reason it still stuns me when it comes into view. I mean, it's just normal ol' downtown OKC, and then there are the chairs right in the midst of everything. It still gives me a chill. I mention this to note I understand where you're coming from. Commercialism in such a place seems inappropriate at best.
But, one of my passions in life is visiting historical sites, and that's basically what the Bombing Memorial is. Whenever I go to a place for the first time, I not only want, but feel a need to take something away from the experience other than a simple memory or picture. Those mean a lot, but we humans are weird creatures. Tangible objects we can touch and hold give us an odd sense of comfort and make us feel more connected to our past. It is not only wrong, but highly illegal to take away actual objects inherent to the site in most cases -- the only time I've felt the compulsion to support the death penalty was a time I witnessed a group of treasure hunters digging up an Indian burial ground for relics to sell -- which leaves things like gift shops as the only legitimate avenue to carry away something tangible from the experience.
I've been to a place called Perryville in Kentucky several times. It is a serene, haunted place, smack in the middle of nowhere and not appearing a great deal different than it did 150 years ago, in which you can feel the chords of memory humming. During the American Civil War, the site served as the place of one of the largest battles west of the Appalachians, where thousands of people died. Archaeologists studying the site have uncovered evidence that points to the conclusion the area also was the site of an enormous battle between native peoples thousands of years before the continent was invaded by Europeans. Evidence of human remains, weapons, arrows, etc. lead to estimates of upwards of hundreds of thousands of people dying at this place. And I own a t-shirt and a small carving I purchased in the small gift shop, run by an elderly couple for whom it is their only income. I don't feel bad about that.
There's the other side of the coin, though, which leads to the mixed feelings. Gettysburg, PA has turned into a circus. Fifty thousand people died there in three days in horrific, sometimes prolonged and extremely painful ways. At a point of the battlefield where one regiment of Union soldiers dug in and held off ferocious attacks and the effects of extreme dehydration sits a McDonalds. *That* pisses me off. I won't mention precisely what kind of souvenier I always leave at that particular choke and puke every time I visit. (I never purchase anything there, but I have a compulsion to go into the place and do some sort of damage that makes a point.)
So, anyway, I see what you're saying, but there's other ways to look at it.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
