by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
More than 400 pairs of boots, representing National Guard deaths in Iraq, stood in rows in Smith Plaza on Monday.
Todd Lambert, who helped organize the "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit, said UNM is an appropriate place for the traveling memorial to visit.
"So many of the people represented by these boots were in their 20s," he said. "They were college-age, just like the people who are seeing this exhibit."
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The exhibit, which also displays shoes to represent civilian deaths during the war, came from Flagstaff, Ariz. Its next stop is Amarillo, Texas.
The exhibit was started by the American Friends Service Committee, a branch of the pacifist Quaker Church.
Connie Green, who helped organize the exhibit in Albuquerque, said it is part memorial and part anti-war display.
"I think the thing the Iraqi war - and probably other wars before that - has taught is that in deadly conflict, the stakes are just too high," she said. "This display honors our soldiers, but it doesn't glorify their deaths."
The reactions to the display have been mostly good, she said.
"I've been really impressed with the thoughtfulness and sensitiveness of the UNM community," she said. "A few people have come up and curtly said, 'I don't believe in what you're doing,' but nobody has started a scene."
Each pair of boots has a tag with the name, rank and age of a guardsman killed in the war.
Some people have personal connections to the display, Lambert said.
"Those who stop to look at this are very moved by it," he said. "Some people will recognize the name. One person who came here, and his brother's name was in the display."
Volunteers stood in a line and read the names of casualties, chiming a bell after each one.
Student Mike Von Dreele said the display was a sad part of his walk across campus.
"It's a little depressing," he said. "It reminds you how (expletive) up this world is. It really showed me how lucky some of us are and some of us aren't."
Madalyn Scrinner, a student from Denver visiting for spring break, said the display forces people to think about the costs of war.
"I think it's good to have it visually quantified like this," she said. "People don't think about it because it's not happening here. But it's something we shouldn't forget about."
