Yellow ribbons adorning utility poles
throughout South Portland have become something of a Rorschach test for
members of the community, as they were when they first appeared in
2003. In March of this year, following the death of two South
Portlanders in Iraq, the city council voted to allow the ribbons on
public property, not to “support the troops,” but to “honor the
sacrifices of Jason Swiger and Angel Rosa.” The display was to last 31
days. Now 90 days after those ribbons were to come down, they remain
and when they fall down or become tattered, are replaced. City leaders,
apparently afraid of a confrontation have refused to enforce their own
laws and have, so far to no avail, sought a comprise solution.

    The ribbon debate is fraught with ambiguity – what
do they stand for? Are they still intended to honor two specific
soldiers or all soldiers? If the ribbons have now reverted to symbols
of “support for our troops,” then what does that mean? Can we support
the troops without supporting the war? Some think yes some think no.
Can supporting the troops mean evacuating them from Baghdad and the
rest of Iraq or can it only mean achieving “victory”? What is victory?
Who defines it and which of the constantly recalibrated definitions is
the correct one? Who decides the answers to these questions and on what
moral or legal authority?

    Reading comments posted on Internet sites it is
clear that some people believe there is little ambiguity and posing
such questions is itself an act of betrayal against “the troops” –
demonstrating a crisis of resolve to an enemy both ubiquitous and
invisible.

    The various and disparate meanings assigned to the
ribbons in the aggregate, makes them meaningless. A letter writer
suggests we all come up with our own color ribbons each with a
different meaning. Perhaps instead we can come up with a new symbol and
vote on its meaning. The winner must achieve neither a plurality nor a
majority but unanimity.

–Ward Peck