From Mother's Day to Notre Dame

It's Sunday.  It's Mother's Day, a holiday initiated by Hallmark Cards to sell... cards.  Now every retailer in America wants you to buy something for Mom.  Oh, and it's not just big box retailers.  Anybody who has any item or product available for you to purchase, wants you to buy one for Mom.  You can buy your Mom a special phone, or tablet, or bicycle, or Kitchen Aide appliance.  I have to admit, however, this year we didn't get in truckloads of flowers.  Our main display was Toro lawn mowers, something Mom isn't too keen on getting.  Our big sales event is going to be Memorial Day and that makes Mother's Day small potatoes.  This doesn't mean we're going to ignore this faux holiday, rather we seem to be giving it the unimportant attention it deserves.
Evidently there's going to be an architectural contest for designing the new roof of Notre Dame.  It hasn't been announced yet, but designs are already being submitted across the Internet.  I guess about 55% of those surveyed feel it should be rebuilt to its original form, however the French do not have a very good reputation for detailed restorations.  Rather, they have been groundbreaking when it comes to innovative architecture, the glass pyramid entrance to the Louvre being just one example.  People hated it when it was revealed... and now it's iconic.  While many feel the new roof should represent the religious aspects of Notre Dame, I'm fairly positive the secular, culture importance will win out; like it or not, the building is evolving.  Turning the rooftop into a more public space, a park perhaps, seems much more appropriate then the edification of an old style.  The cathedral is turning into a monument for the ages.

What ever design is eventually chosen, you can bet the French will hate it... at first.