I was going to write the customary platitudes about remembering and honouring those who made the supreme sacrifice in defence of freedom, democracy, the right to boo the umpire and so on. But after listening to Don Cherry (see previous post) I have something more to get off my chest.
Sure, I'm wearing my poppy, and shame on those who don't pay at least a little attention to this day and its meaning. But that doesn't mean that I approve of, let alone encourage war. I am familiar with the concept of the "just war", but IMHO most of the wars fought by the AABC countries (America, Australia, Britain, and Canada) since 1812 have been fought by the wrong people, in the wrong places, for the wrong reasons. I'll except World Wars I and II, which America, to its everlasting shame, entered late. And maybe Korea. But I've never felt that any war since Korea has been worth one drop of the blood shed by so many, or one dollar of the billions spent.
That doesn't mean I won't remember and honour those who gave their lives. When duty calls, you have to go. If you volunteered to serve in the armed forces, what did you sign up for? Many were misguided. Many were misled. But they did their duty and kept the promises they'd made. As was famously said of the British Army, they were "lions commanded by donkeys." And there they lie, in Flanders fields, at the bottom of the south Pacific, buried within a numbered hill somewhere in Vietnam.
Was it all worth it? Listen to John McDermott's excellent rendition of "The Green Fields of France". The visuals are from the "Great War", World War I, "the war to end all wars".
No comments:
Post a Comment