Military veterans are among those who have expressed outrage at the on-going abuse of the famous monument in Green Park, directly opposite Buckingham Palace.
Unveiled by the Queen in 1994, it is surrounded by signs reading ‘As a mark of respect, please refrain from climbing this memorial’.
Despite this, visitors to the park now think nothing of walking up and down the sloping granite sculpture, which has water flowing across it, and using it to cool their feet, sunbathe, and play games on.
At the weekend, grown men in bare feet or trainers could be seen clambering on top of it, while encouraging children to use it as a slide during the hot summer weather.
Patriactionary 
Jacob
August 27, 2016 at 12:33 am
This is inevitable. Remembering the fallen dead is one thing, but remembering the men who signed up has a time limit. Their memory is important but it should also be permitted to fade peacefully into history when it’s time. Not sure now is the time but that’s in God’s hands.
Also, what’s so wrong with a monument that is also a source of recreation? Isn’t that what God wants – to raise life from death?
It would be different if the monument was being deliberately desecrated, of course.
Will S.
August 27, 2016 at 1:56 am
Good points; I hadn’t thought about it in those ways…
feeriker
August 27, 2016 at 1:34 am
I’m thinking that it was a very, VERY foolish decision on somebody’s part to design and build a memorial the design of which just BEGS “use me for a jungle gym.” The marching-moron majority being what it is and always has been, this unfortunate behavior is the inevitable result.
If I’ve observed nothing else about the behavior of the typical human over the course of the last century, it is that “respect” is something that each individual demands in tones of shrill belligerence for themselves, but has not the slightest intention of showing anyone else.
Will S.
August 27, 2016 at 1:58 am
Also a good point; better to build a more traditional style of memorial if you want people to treat it with the kind of respect and reverence which more traditional styles of memorials tend to inspire…
I suppose people are reacting fairly naturally to what they see before them; a water fountain in a park… Perhaps that’s why the police are leaving them alone; nobody is being hurt by their actions, after all…
Carnivore
August 27, 2016 at 8:33 am
Building some geometric shapes and putting a “memorial” sign on them does not make it so. This is a dive into the modern art cesspool. It’s an insult to any soldiers who perished. Google Soviet soldier memorials. They are immediately recognized as memorials and are truly heroic.
Will S.
August 27, 2016 at 5:30 pm
True. Probably hence why they aren’t recognized as such.
TDOM
August 27, 2016 at 1:52 pm
Easy solution. If people won’t show respect in the way you would like, change the way you want respect to be shown. this means changing the sign: “Please demonstrate your respect by enjoying this monument to those Canadians who died protecting your freedom.” Providing they are doing no damage to the monument, everyone wins.
Will S.
August 27, 2016 at 5:30 pm
That would work!
A.B. Prosper
August 27, 2016 at 3:36 pm
If you want people to take a monument seriously as a monument make it look like something. A statue of a fallen solider is traditional and gets the message out better than this modern art thing.
I know I know liberals etc but make a war monument reflect war and you’ll get more respect.
Will S.
August 27, 2016 at 5:30 pm
Agreed.