From the new World Trade Center Memorial to the world at-large, cities gathered to remember 9/11 yesterday. And while some commemorations have been just plain distasteful and outrageous, others had us pausing appropriately to remember that fall day 10 years ago. Now, in Milan, there's widespread outrage in response to a "memorial" in the atrium of the Palazzo Reale called "The Last Supper Globalized," that displays twisted debris from the fallen towers. Many agree with Antonio Paladino, the inventor of the installation when he says, "I performed a sacrilegious act." While in Washington, D.C, however, many gathered at the Smithsonian to pay their respects to recovered items from the site, in Milan, Americans are furious with how the exhibition has become a backdrop for cheesy tourist photos. Perhaps we feel an appropriate sense of ownership—this is our tragedy and we will be the ones to dictate how it's remembered—or perhaps, as expected, and maybe even intended, Paladino's demented "art" piece offends due to his cavalier attitude. In any case, though, it's installations like these that draw attention and appreciation to our united strength, and to our national heroism.
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