Eyes Wide Open Across Pennsylvania
The Fall 2006 Tour
The American Friends Service Committee's Fall Eyes Wide Open tour of Pennsylvania covered
twelve sites and reached approximately 2,000 people. Over 200 volunteers assisted with the exhibits, of these 70 were trained as listeners.
October turned out to be quite a sobering and challenging month to exhibit Eyes Wide Open around the state. Not only did we lose 104 US soldiers (the 4th highest monthly loss since the war began), 6 from Pennsylvania, but we were all aghast when the most recent British report was published citing the total number of Iraqi deaths to be as high as 600,000. It seemed that each time we changed location our trailer carrying the boots got a little more tightly packed.
October also marked a change in our training techniques. Instead of training our volunteers how to politely confront negative individuals they were trained in the art of listening. The difference was evident in the reactions of a few individuals who entered the exhibit disagreeing with the message. Before the training there were instances where a individual would be confronted and instead of fostering dialog the conversation broke into loud argument. Since concentrating on listening instead of confronting there have been no arguments and even when an individuals views are not altered they have left the exhibit feeling content that the two parties can coexist and agree to disagree. This tactic also allowed our listeners to hear a more eclectic range of stories and helped to gain new insight as people shared their joys, sorrows, pain, and grief.
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