Sobering display -- thinking about peace

The Episcopal Peace Fellowship set up a staggering display on the lawn of the Ohio Statehouse. They've put one pair of boots out for every US soldier who has died in Iraq. That's 2,497 pairs of boots. Each pair of boots shows the name of one soldier and his or her age and home town. It was especially poignant to see all the boots, with their decorations and flags, on Flag Day.

Along with the boots representing US soldiers, they have just a few thousand shoes to show the scale of what they claim as well over 100,000 civilian deaths in Iraq. These shoes are all different, and they also show the name and age of a dead Iraqi.

On a day of legislative minutia and church politics, it was a sobering reminder of the matters of life and death that the world faces.

The people who were volunteering at the exhibit were doing lots of work. One person was reading the name of every dead US soldier out loud. Others were there to talk and to listen. Over the three days of the display, they had hoped to get 1,000 viewers, but one man told me over 6,000 people had come by. I hope everyone leaves with the same swirl of thoughts that I had.

Here's a photo of the shoes representing civilian deaths.













Just one pair of boots with some personal mementos.













Lots and lots of boots. Too many.