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Issue date: 10/30/08 Section: Clubs & Organizations

Media Credit: Andrew Prunesti Boots commemorated casualties of the Iraq War.

On Friday Oct. 24 the Eyes Wide Open Exhibit made its way onto the Lynchburg College campus. The exhibit displayed more than 100 pairs of boots and shoes to symbolize the military personnel and civilians who have been killed in Iraq. The majority of the footwear had names and ages of the men, women and children being commemorated attached to them.

According to the American Friends Service Committee (AFCS) currently 122 men and women from Virginia alone have lost their lives in the Iraq war. It is estimated that for each fatality seven U.S. soldiers are severely wounded, and for every American death roughly 200 Iraqi lives are lost.

AFCS, a Quaker organization, is opposed to violence and war of any kind. The organization created this exhibit as a memorial to those whose lives have been lost and to remind the American people that no war fought for any reason can justify its human cost.

While AFCS began the exhibit with hopes to raise awareness and pay respect, the exhibit has caused some controversy.

Forrest Winks, an LC sophomore who spent eight months overseas in both Kuwait and Iraq, finds the display to be distasteful.

"I think it's completely disrespectful to portray the lives of soldiers as nothing more than empty boots," Winks said.

AFCS wishes to remain neutral in the war, and this is why they pay respect not only to the Americans who have lost their lives, but the Iraqi's as well. However, some people find this to be offensive to our troops and to those Americans who have lost their lives or the lives of loved ones.

"If they really would like to pay respect to the American soldiers, then don't put their boots next to the shoes of dead Iraqi's," Winks said.

Danny Chaney, a sophomore, thought that the exhibit was a great way to keep the student body aware of what is going on in Iraq.

"Seeing statistics and shoes out where I was going to class made it impossible not to be interested in what was going on. It was a really creative way to keep the students involved," Chaney said.

Brad Hannon, a LC senior and veteran who spent time in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan was startled when he first heard about the exhibit.

"At first I was angry because I thought the exhibit was put on by an LC student who was just trying to make a statement about the war, but when I went to check it out and saw that it was an organization putting it on, and that the shoes had been donated by the families, I didn't find it as offensive," Hannon said.

Hannon also thought it was good that the exhibit remained objective by stating facts about the war and not the opinions of the organization.

Anne Gibbons, the associate chaplain at LC who helped bring the exhibit to campus, thinks the exhibit is one way to open people's eyes to the human toll and financial costs of war, as well as pay respect to the people who have suffered from it.

"Something as significant as war needs to be brought to our attention so that we can think and reflect. Any sort of symbolic display is always going to risk the possibility that people will react in different ways. The main concern should be to remain respectful to all the different reactions," Gibbons said.

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