Eyes Wide Open in Highland Park
On the final day of the Bring Them Home tour in Chicago, the bus visited the memorial display of Eyes Wide Open in Highland Park. This memorial has been up for several weeks and has sparked conversations in a newly created public forum area in the town. Prior to their visit to the display, Cindy Sheehan and other Gold Star Family members met with the staff of Mark Kirk at his Deerfield office. They issued an invitation for Mr. Kirk to pay them a visit during the upcoming demonstration in Washington DC.
The names of all of the soldiers killed in Iraq are displayed behind the boots and shoes - the boots represent the soldiers who have been killed...and the shoes represent innocent Iraqi victims of the war. Scattered throughout the display are red and purple poppies to symbolize the countless severe injuries that too, are part of the war. The members of the tour read the names of those killed in the last 12 days accompanied by the haunting strains of a bagpipe dirge. After all of the names were read, student from the local high school played Taps.
All members of the bus tour spoke...and then asked me to make an ad hoc speech. (scary!)
After many hugs...we said goodby to the North Bring Them Home tour. I will be meeting up with them in Washington later this month.
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