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Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Stories
Some stories from the Eyes Wide Open Exhibit
Two Vietnam vets came to see the display and to give a gift to Army PFC Lori Piestewa, 23, who was the first Native American woman killed by enemy action in this war. One of the vets put a card with Lori's boots. On the back of the card, he wrote that, until Lori died, he had never voted, but her death inspired him to vote for the first time.
A recently disabled vet who was not deployed with the rest of his platoon, because his back went out on the day that they received their orders to deploy. He came to the exhibit, but he couldn't bring himself to actually walk into the park to see the boots. Survivor's guilt.
A young college-aged girl who sat every day by the boots that represented her brother. He died in June. He was her only sibling. Her mother wasn't ready to come see this yet.
A Gulf war vet, missing both legs from the knees down. He came all three days. He sat in the rain for five hours on the first day.
A man and wife who came as we were taking the exhibit down. The wife spoke with me while the husband, a Vietnam vet stood outside the perimeter of the field of boots. She told me that
her 15-year-old grandson asked if he would have to go to war. I apologized for the fact that we had taken down half of the boots, so they missed the complete exhibit. She said that even this much was hard for her husband to see.
A couple who drove here from Burlington, CO to find the boots of their next-door-neighbor's son. Their neighbor couldn't make the trip, so they came to honor and take photos. They are for W and for this war, and they thought that it was right that there is a display to show the deaths and honor the soldiers.
A woman who brought boxes of Buddhist peace flags and put one by each pair of boots.
Mothers of soldiers who were requested by their sons to place flowers on the boots of their fallen friends.
And many, many people who needed to tell their stories.
Thank you, AFSC and all volunteers, for creating a place where people have an excuse to open their hearts to each other.
Two Vietnam vets came to see the display and to give a gift to Army PFC Lori Piestewa, 23, who was the first Native American woman killed by enemy action in this war. One of the vets put a card with Lori's boots. On the back of the card, he wrote that, until Lori died, he had never voted, but her death inspired him to vote for the first time.
A recently disabled vet who was not deployed with the rest of his platoon, because his back went out on the day that they received their orders to deploy. He came to the exhibit, but he couldn't bring himself to actually walk into the park to see the boots. Survivor's guilt.
A young college-aged girl who sat every day by the boots that represented her brother. He died in June. He was her only sibling. Her mother wasn't ready to come see this yet.
A Gulf war vet, missing both legs from the knees down. He came all three days. He sat in the rain for five hours on the first day.
A man and wife who came as we were taking the exhibit down. The wife spoke with me while the husband, a Vietnam vet stood outside the perimeter of the field of boots. She told me that
her 15-year-old grandson asked if he would have to go to war. I apologized for the fact that we had taken down half of the boots, so they missed the complete exhibit. She said that even this much was hard for her husband to see.
A couple who drove here from Burlington, CO to find the boots of their next-door-neighbor's son. Their neighbor couldn't make the trip, so they came to honor and take photos. They are for W and for this war, and they thought that it was right that there is a display to show the deaths and honor the soldiers.
A woman who brought boxes of Buddhist peace flags and put one by each pair of boots.
Mothers of soldiers who were requested by their sons to place flowers on the boots of their fallen friends.
And many, many people who needed to tell their stories.
Thank you, AFSC and all volunteers, for creating a place where people have an excuse to open their hearts to each other.
.
posted by Carol at 8:38 PM
1 Comments:
What we lack in this country is a real dialogue where people open up to each other and express their honest feelings, especially while in disagreement. It is exhibitions like Eyes Wide Open that help people to start the real dialogue moving forward. Much thanks to everyone who had the vision and the stamina to start this traveling exhibition and keep it going. It is quite valuable to our country and to this community. It's too bad that the chickenhawks in power are so fearful of a real dialogue.
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