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