Veterans for Peace, Santa Monica Demonstration

Back during the memorial day weekend, I took some photos of the crosses put up by the Veterans for Peace. It's been happening on the north side of the Santa Monica pier every Sunday for a while now. My first time seeing it, I ended up helping them out with moving the empty display coffins, as they were looking for volunteers.



It was a surreal experience walking in procession with symbols representing casualties of war. It's also unsettling to not see it for a few weeks and go back and see it has been growing, a reminder that while we are home enjoying life, elsewhere the war continues on.



I took the first few during the afternoon, then went on a bike adventure (posted about earlier), and came back to take photos at night. At night each cross was lit with a candle, guarded from wind by a red plastic cup.



Whether you're for or against America's involvement in Iraq, I think it is an eye opening experience to see a visual representation, rather then the abstraction of listening to a number or reading a statistic.