Flags were placed on PLU's grounds to represent lives lost during the war in Iraq. Each flag represents 10 people.
Hundreds of white, green and red flags cover the grounds of PLU representing American and Iraqi losses during the war in Iraq.
4,250 US troops. 5,500 Iraqi troops. 95,000 Iraqi civilians. Together they total 104,750 lives that have been lost as a result of the war in Iraq. These stats came from iraqbodycount.org, and were displayed displayed on posters around Pacific Lutheran Universities Red Square. Accompanying the signs were little flags placed all over the grounds, each one representing 10 lives lost during the war.
The display was put up as a way to bring the war home, a way to show those of us here in the states the sort of sacrifice and losses our most recent conflict has brought about. Students were encouraged to sign a large banner with messages of encouragement for the families and friends who were forced to say goodbye to their loved ones. However such displays aren’t limited to PLU’s campus.
A similar display was erected in Lafayette CA. Jeff Heaton, a resident of Lafayette, hammered thousands of white wooden crosses into the hillside off of highway 24 as a memorial to those lost during the war. His memorial has been a heated subject for the residents of Lafayette, but once the hostilities lessened in Iraq so did the public outcry against the memorial which still stands today.
I have never understood why people would take offense to memorials such as these. To often these violent conflicts exist in a make believe world detached from our own. It’s time that we recognize that these wars are apart of the world we live in, and that they can’t be ignored. 4,250 Americans have made a sacrifice for our country that we will never understand, it would be doing them an injustice to ignore their sacrifice, to pretend like it never happened.
It’s time that we understood the ramifications of the decisions that lead our country’s men and women into harms way. Every time one of them lays down their lives, at least two hearts are broken. I encourage everyone to stop by red square and at least observe the sacrifices that have been made for all of us who call ourselves American, may the fallen RIP.
