Modern memorials stand for the warriors, not the war

The Cost Of War 3
Originally uploaded by Susan B..

By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY - Yahoo News

Grass-roots memorials to the war dead in Iraq and Afghanistan are spreading across America, and the driving force behind them is often the same: to commemorate the individuals, rather than the wars.

"It's more about glorifying the everyman in ways that we haven't seen before," says Gary Laderman, an Emory University professor of religion and author of Rest in Peace, a history of 20th-century funeral rituals. "People are really comfortable about highlighting the individual. That's become almost a sacred kind of act."

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Photo from a collection of toy camera and homemade lens shots from the Eyes Wide Open memorial at Santa Monica Pier, California by my Flickr contact Susan B.

Photos are from between
17 Mar 05 & 18 May 05.