"Eyes Wide Open" at MCC

For two days this week at MCC, the floor near the Commons was the setting for many pairs of combat boots, one pair for each Illinoisan killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. When I walked in on Tuesday and saw the boots, I stopped in my tracks. And I was glad I inquired of the students seated at a table nearby.

At Tuesday night's program there were many hecklers interrupted the four speakers, who were there to speak out against the wars.

As the week passed, I reflected on the hecklers and their emotions. Some of them were clearly patriotic. A number of them carried U.S. flags. (One woman carelessly let her U.S. flag rest on the floor in the hallway, as she rolled it up. I stepped forward to lift it from the floor, but a man who was closer grabbed it before I could.)

In the Northwest Herald article on Wednesday, from which all comments have already been removed, one MCC student, Allison Krepel, from Crystal Lake, said the display upset her.
“When I walked in today, I had to stop myself from crying,” she said, adding that she thought it was disrespectful.

Well, Allison, it's good that you almost cried. The message of the boots and its impact were strong, and you "got" it. But the display was not disrespectful.

I thought more about the anti-war messages of the four speakers and the "Support the Troops" emotions of the protesters. These two positions are not mutually exclusive. The speakers were not against the troops; they were against the war and the way it was being conducted.

Right now I'm reading Thomas E. Ricks' new book, The Gamble - General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008. I've only made it to Page 36 so far, but it is fascinating. Ricks is also the author of Fiasco, Making the Corps and A Soldier's Duty. I'll be reading these three, too.

Read one or all of these books. You can order or buy them at Read Between the Lynes and borrow them from the library.