in honor of memorial day...

This article misses the mark on memorialization. Paul Richard doesn't seem to get that memorials are not static creatures beholden to some mystical formula for hero worship (though they certainly follow in that mold). Since memorials reflect not only the era they commemorate but also the era of creation, it's only natural that there is a shift in forms for our National monuments since the Lincoln Memorial (dedicated in 1922).

As somewhat of an expert on the FDR Memorial (see my undergraduate thesis) I find it laughable that he only mentions the ambiguity of the wheelchair statue rather than the grand representation of FDR in the original memorial. The original one was trying to follow his formula, but guess what, it was heavily criticized for skirting FDR's paralyzed state and betrayed modern sensibilities. The wheelchair statue isn't great either, but it was designed to serve a different purpose than what Richard takes it to task for.

Really, aren't we sick of casting our "heroes" in Greek and Roman marble? Times change, the built environment needs to as well.