There are very few calendar events that move me like Remembrance Day. This year is no exception; in fact, it moves me more than usual, and I think I know why.
Valentine's Day, with all its promises, comes and goes; Christmas, with all its wide commercialism and narrow historicity, comes and goes. Father's Day and Mother's Day, with their token acknowledgement of parents, in a culture where parents are often dishonoured, is good but hollow.
But Remembrance Day still has a ring to it, though perhaps not appreciated as much by, say, the green tree-huggers and other fellow-anarchists something I find terribly ironic. The fact that they can enjoy their freedom to protest is due to the origins of the event they are denouncing.
Re-stated: There are many freedoms in Canada and America that we enjoy because others have given their lives for those freedoms. This understanding must be lost on those NFL-kneelers, professional protesters, political activists, and others, that the very liberty they enjoy is because of war.
I hate war as much as anyone. I don't watch war movies or computer games, nor do I gloat over the bad guys versus the good guys, and the gore that's spilled. I think of myself a wuss, though my feelings towards war run much deeper than some shallow emotional experience.
I see war in some quarters as a necessary path for protecting freedom. I see war, then, as not so much about attacking what is wrong, but defending what is right.
Most wars in this world have involved blood and gore, guns and bombs, liberty and bondage, and life and death. Most, that is, but not all. There are literal wars, then there are figurative wars.
You see, there are wars that include philosophical differences; we speak of a war of words, attrition, and ideals. Wars of the wills, especially within a family context, and when they get carried away, could lead to domestic violence of one sort or another.
We speak of the current war in education, with property rights, and over gender issues. These are all very real battles, with two distinct sides, both convinced they are right. And yet without any blood being spilled--may they long continue.
But Remembrance Day, to be celebrated next Sunday (the actual date) or Monday (a civic holiday for many), is not quite so theoretical. And I don't draw my information from Hollywood, though occasionally they get it right. Too often they'll trivialize what really happened.
My information generally comes from articles, magazines and books. Somehow, those sources are able to distill the essence of most historical issues. Maybe not having to pander to the eye-gate or ear-gate allows the writer to get down to the bare facts.
I read recently that the three colours of the poppy—red, black and green—have some
significance. You likely know this, but I must have missed that over the years. Red is for the blood that was spilled on foreign soil; black is for the grief of the soldiers and their families; and green is for the new life in the new world that freedom brings.Freedom? Have we truly entered into the freedom that they men and women gained for us?
With the mess that our world is in currently, I really wonder if it was worth it. To be sure, it has been worth it for the decades that followed each of the two major world wars. But I am thinking that the current trend of stripping away the freedoms of speech, choice, and religion, plus the sanctity of life, the permanence of traditional marriage—among many other essentials of a healthy society—casts a cloud of doubt over what these men and women fought for.
We tend to forget that. That's why acknowledging Remembrance Day is so important...lest we forget.
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