Eyes Wide Open Report

From Episcopal Peace Fellowship (www.epfnational.org)

General Convention 2006
Eyes Wide Open Report
By
Aug 4, 2006, 14:37

Eyes Wide Open: Columbus

“You can’t really anticipate the effect that the Eyes Wide Open Exhibit will have on you”.

These words were spoken time and time again by the many volunteers that helped set up the powerful display of combat boots and shoes representing American soldiers and Iraqis killed in the Iraq War. This amazing traveling exhibit has almost become too large to transport due to the increased number of those killed in this senseless war. Dr. Tarunjit Butalia, (Secretary of the Interfaith Peace Center in Columbus) said, “didn’t matter if you were for or against the Iraq War, when visitors saw the exhibit there was a certain amount of sadness that came over them.”

When Madeleine Trichel, Executive Director of the Interfaith Peace Center in Columbus, was contacted by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship to ask if the faith community of Columbus would be interested in co-hosting the exhibit at the time the National Episcopal General Convention was in town, she could only imagine the impact this exhibit would have on those involved. You see, this was not a new idea for the Columbus faith *community: they had considered hosting the exhibit earlier in the war. Concerns regarding accurate representation of Iraqi civilian deaths had resulted in the decision not to host the exhibit at that time. But this time might be different, this time working with the American Friends Service Committee (the founders of Eyes Wide Open), the community would be able to give more attention to the over 100,000 Iraqis who had been killed, in addition to the almost 2,500 American soldiers.

After many, many meetings, the planning committee made up of representatives from the Columbus Christian, Sikh, Muslim, and secular communities, decided that they must alter the shape of the exhibit to allow the shoes, representing the Iraqis killed in the war, a more prominent place. Approximately 3,000 pairs of shoes representing the Iraqi deaths were placed in the center aisle of the exhibit, flanked on each side by the 2497 pairs of combat boots representing the Americans. The shoes are a contribution from “Peaceful Tomorrows”, a national group made up of persons who lost love ones in the 9/11 World Trade Center bombing.

For the three days Eyes Wide Open was on display, representatives of the Columbus planning committee led by Madeleine Trichel, Rev. Deb Oskin (Peace Minister, Church of the Brethren) Dr. Tarunjit Butalia, the Rev. Les Stansbury, and Java Kitric (Puffin Foundation), along with the American Friends Service Committee, met with visitors and guided them through the exhibit, answering questions and comforting those who were experiencing their own grief and loss. Volunteers continuously read the names of those killed in the war. When organizers realized they had fewer Iraqi names than expected, they were diligent about researching a more complete list and gathered over 61,000 more Iraqi names to be read. They were able to contribute this list to the permanent exhibit. Zaineb Alani, an Iraqi-American, who lived through two wars in Iraqi, put it this way, “we are all victims of flawed decisions and short sightedness”.

Organizers estimate that there were 6,000 visitors to the exhibit over the three days. In addition to reading the names, the program included an opening ceremony and press conference, speakers and musicians, daily Muslim prayers, and interfaith peace vigils. The exhibit displays the boots in alphabetical order by state and each pair of boots is tagged with a soldier’s name. Many visitors had come to find the boots of a loved one. Rev. Oskin recalls, “each day there was someone lying on the grass in the midst of the boots, hugging a pair of boots usually for 20 or 30 minutes. As they got up you could see that they had left memorabilia with the boots.”

Trichel remembered, “the last day a father came, he had just heard about the exhibit that morning and was just back from Washington where he had received the flag from his son’s coffin who had been killed in Iraq. The exhibit mattered to him, he was grateful that the boots are there, as he prepares to send another son to the war.” The Rev. Gary Commins, Vice Chair of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship National Executive Council, recalls two Bishops who visited the exhibit at different times and found the boots of young soldiers in their diocese. They said that this exhibit was one of the most moving things about General Convention. And the stories go on and on.

When asked what lasting impact the exhibit had on both the Columbus interfaith community who sponsored the event, the visitors and the Episcopal General Convention, organizers gave a wide array of responses. Rev. Oskin said that everyone (supporters of the war and peace activists alike) said that they thought the exhibit had been worthwhile. Ms. Alani said that, “having the Eyes Wide Open exhibit was therapeutic: helping visitors work out their own grief, anger and sadness.” The editors of The Living Church, an independent weekly Episcopal magazine, said that the exhibit was “one of the most moving parts of the 75^th Episcopal General Convention.” And the Columbus organizers said they would remember how grateful they were to one another for modeling peaceful approaches to their own planning process. Many visitors said they would “never see the Statehouse in the same way”. By Rev. Jackie Lynn, Executive Director, Episcopal Peace Fellowship

Links to other information about Eyes Wide Open:

http://www.afsc.org/; http://www.peace-center.org/ ; www.epfnational.org; http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8353057442089626708 ; http://www.dispatch.com