Eyes Wide Open

On Monday morning there was a display set up outside the civic center. It was called "Eyes Wide Open". The display focused on the cost of war to the Commonwealth of Virginia, with 125 pairs of combat boots representing the fallen service men and women from Virginia.


Each boot had a tag with the name of a service person who died in the war in Iraq.


Some had things placed in or on them. All items added were placed there either by family or people who knew them.



The were pictures, flags, flowers, toys, notes from their children; reminders of the human loss.

The exhibit opened just before the close of the Clergy Executive Session, which meant that as each pastor exited into the sunlit courtyard the thing that they first saw was the boots.

For me it wasn't about making a political statement. It was about remembering that the numbers we hear or read about concerning those who have died are more than numbers. They were someones child, parent, spouse and they're not coming home. It reminds me that war simply sucks. It's not about right and wrong, I'm not arguing about that, war just sucks. I'm not talking cutting and running either, war just sucks. Get it?

Check out http://www.afsc.org/eyes/