The American Friends Services Committee has recently put together a visual exhibit entitled "Eyes Wide Open." This exhibition features a pair of boots honoring each U.S. military casualty in the Iraq war, a field of shoes and a Wall of Remembrance to memorialize the Iraqis killed in the conflict. It has become of particular interest to me since it will be on display in my hometown of St Paul, MN this weekend. I feel as though any memorial to soldiers who lose their life in combat is worth it's weight in gold. I cherish the freedoms we have in this great country called the United States of America. But is this what "Eyes Wide Open" is all about?
Nick Coleman's column in the Friday edition of the Star Tribune was dedicated to the exhibit. I couldn't help but be struck by the inferences made in Coleman's story:
When the sun came up Thursday and volunteers began setting out the boots in orderly rows, the American death toll in Iraq stood at 1,928. By the time the task was finished, five hours later, five more Americans had died.
This boot hill keeps growing day to day and month to month, while support for the war shrinks in an inverse proportion: The more empty boots, the more unfulfilled lives, the more unanswered questions about a mission that we were told had been accomplished 1,793 pairs ago.
As I began to think about memorials dedicated to soldiers who gave their lives in the name of freedom, the memorial which stands out is the Vietnam War memorial, located in Washington, DC. On "The Wall" is the names of the more than 58,000 soldiers who lost their lives in that dreadful war. "The Wall" stands 10 feet high and is approximately 500 feet long.
Now imagine if we were to dedicate a wall to the approximately 40,000,000 infants who have been victims of abortion since 1973. If each baby were given a name, any wall dedicated to their memory would be SIXTY NINE MILES long. To put that in perspective, an "Abortion memorial" would go beyond the city limits of Washington, DC and stretch all the way to the city of Aberdeen, Maryland!
You want to talk about the five Americans who died in Iraq during the five hours it took to set up the "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit, Mr. Coleman? The issue of whether or not their cause was noble is open for debate. At the rate abortion has been going the last 32 years, however, 715 innocent babies were killed in that same five hours. There is absolutely NO debate on the nobility of their deaths.
You want to talk about casualties growing while support for the war shrinks in inverse proportion? Do any of you liberals have the guts to take a poll on the popularity of abortion? Support for that awful procedure is dramatically shrinking....
...while innocent deaths are growing.
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