I would like to thank all those volunteers who participated in the arrangement of the red and white flags across the campus lawn, symbolizing the U.S. and Iraqi lives that have been lost to the Iraq war. There is something so telling and acutely personal about the visual display of each human individual who has died in Iraq over the past five years. In a time dominated by political spin, mass-misinformation, and superficial standards, there is nothing more true and real than death. Five years ago I was in my early 20s and believed that Vietnam was the war that scarred a generation. Now I look to my generation, and the next generation, and see that we too are plagued by war – a war with no foreseeable goal, outcome, or end. Walking through that sea of flags brings pain to my heart every time. Tomorrow I will walk through it again. With irony, I contemplate that the daily repetition of seeing that sprawling. flag-covered lawn sub-consciously makes the display less drastic, somehow less offensive. It becomes commonplace, however atrocious. I write to encourage every person who reads these words to not forget the lives that are lost daily in Iraq, and to not forget that this war is a choice made by this nation. We must not forget that there are other options. In the meantime, more flags are needed.
Teresa Stanonik
Journalism graduate student