Shoes Of War

These shoes represent people. People who should be wearing them and walking around in them. But they have no need of them, because these people are all dead, victims of the Iraq war. Soldiers, civilians, moms, and babies. Shoes lined up neatly, row after row, waiting for owners. But though these people are gone from us, the shoes keep walking. They walk all over the state of Virginia in a traveling display called “Eyes Wide Open”. Each pair of shoes represents a person from the state of Virginia who died in the war. Attached to each pair is the person’s name, date of birth, and other pertinent information. Some have short biographies attached. When I took these pictures, it was a breathtakingly gorgeous autumn day. Bright blue sky, and trees with crisp red and yellow leaves. The kind of day that makes you glad to be alive and outside. But never again for these people. Rows of shoes almost as far as the eye could see, sitting silently under the blue sky, a testament to the nature of man. I really need no text, because if a picture is a thousand words, then surely these speak more eloquently than anything I could ever say. I closed my eyes and pictured the spirits of the departed coming to retrieve the shoes, putting them on, dancing and laughing in the fall leaves. A fanciful thought that would never happen. But a nice one. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9