Sunday, 29 December 2013

A Seemingly Pointless Exercise.

It’s been announced that memorial plaques are to be installed in honour of the victims of the Tay Bridge disaster, and I’m curious to know why.

This is not a churlish rant; I mean no disrespect, or even have any firm objection. It’s just that I don’t see the point. It seems to me that there are three grounds for installing memorials:

1. If it honours someone who undertook a course of action which improved the lives of others, especially if it left a legacy which will benefit future generations. Nelson Mandela is an obvious example.

2. If it relates to victims who have loved ones still living.

3. If it commemorates a major historical even such as the signing of the Magna Carta.

But the Tay Bridge disaster happened 134 years ago. It was an accident caused by a violent storm and a badly designed bridge. None of the victims did anything consciously to further a cause, there can’t be anybody living who remembers them, and it was simply a bad rail accident, the like of which is not uncommon when viewed globally. It might be claimed that the safety of rail bridges was improved as a result, but you can say that about any accident from which lessons are learned. So I still don’t understand why they’re doing it.

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