The further along we journey in history the greater our legends grow. Many people in Canada are trying to keep alive the military history of our country. I have no problem with this but wonder how we can do that in a "relevant" conscious way. Our young people would be reminded of the sacrifice that our soldiers made in the Great War, the Second World War and Korea. But for many young Canadians it must be a bit of a stretch. The Germans who were once considered baby-eaters and Huns, the scourge of modern Europe, now make some great cars and other products, are NATO allies, and would be the last nation on the Axis of Evil, if such a thing existed. The same could be said for the Japanese, who also make great cars and other products and are allies in the Pacific. In fact, to the post-Modern mind it is a strain to try and imagine that these people were ever our enemies.
However, we find continual emphasis placed on remembering, at least on November 11th, that our freedom came with a cost. For those of a Non-Peace Church tradition a Scripture is attached to the memory and emotion of these young men and women: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" John 15:13. Jesus was applying these words to the upcoming event of his crucifixion and the propitiation he would exact from this act. Seriously, this is not the same thing at all. But it is hard to argue that those who died in the Wars did not sacrifice themselves for upcoming generations who would reap the benefits of not having to live under the tyranny of German rule.
World War 1 makes the least sense of most wars. The "Cousins" were bored with their royal rule and decided a war would shake things up. Okay, that's not exactly what happened. How Germany found a case for war in the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand is beyond my understanding. What that had to do with France or Great Britain is also beyond rational comprehension. Canadian pride and loyalty to the Crown drove our nation into this war with the result that an identity was born for this young nation. But at what cost? Yet this is the war that reminds us most of the sober pride we have in our contribution as Canadians. Hey, the Canadians were the storm troopers of the First World War - there were none better. They would have gone all the way to Berlin if the War had not ended. It's just that to today's teenager it is a difficult thing to explain the reason for this War.
World War 2 came the closest to being labeled a "Just War." Hitler was the great Antichrist of the middle 20th century and Nazi power had to be broken. The Axis agenda was truly to conquer and rule the world, or so the propaganda has led me to believe. However, this War could have been avoided had the League of Nations shown a little more grace to the humbled German empire of the post-World War 1 era. This tragedy might have been averted had the triumphant nations not "stuck it to them" and exacted a revenge that decimated the economy of Germany. Out of this quagmire and misery came the opportunity to birth a Fuhrer of tremendously evil proportions.
Well, I started out wanting to write a tribute to the young Canadians of World War 1. What happened? Guess my thoughts went astray of my ambition. I wanted to write about the young man from the small Manitoba town that joined up with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles to see the world, have some fun and be home by Christmas. I wanted to express his thoughts of horror as he realized in the midst of intense shelling, the disintegration of friends in those blasts, the smell of rotting flesh and missing limbs, that he was in hell. That it dawned on him that winning medals and achieving glory were nothing compared to surviving and getting out somehow. Or that maybe he knew that now that he was "in it" that he had to finish the job whether it made sense or not.
No we cannot forget. Let's not be blind either. Let's not allow the emotionalism of the terrible cost blur the reasons behind this global crucible. Doesn't the slogan "Lest we Forget" urge us to remember the horrors and be very careful this does not happen again? If they laid down their lives so that we could live in this secure, democratic and prosperous nation and did it on the basis of greater love, can we not honor that?
However, we find continual emphasis placed on remembering, at least on November 11th, that our freedom came with a cost. For those of a Non-Peace Church tradition a Scripture is attached to the memory and emotion of these young men and women: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" John 15:13. Jesus was applying these words to the upcoming event of his crucifixion and the propitiation he would exact from this act. Seriously, this is not the same thing at all. But it is hard to argue that those who died in the Wars did not sacrifice themselves for upcoming generations who would reap the benefits of not having to live under the tyranny of German rule.
World War 1 makes the least sense of most wars. The "Cousins" were bored with their royal rule and decided a war would shake things up. Okay, that's not exactly what happened. How Germany found a case for war in the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand is beyond my understanding. What that had to do with France or Great Britain is also beyond rational comprehension. Canadian pride and loyalty to the Crown drove our nation into this war with the result that an identity was born for this young nation. But at what cost? Yet this is the war that reminds us most of the sober pride we have in our contribution as Canadians. Hey, the Canadians were the storm troopers of the First World War - there were none better. They would have gone all the way to Berlin if the War had not ended. It's just that to today's teenager it is a difficult thing to explain the reason for this War.World War 2 came the closest to being labeled a "Just War." Hitler was the great Antichrist of the middle 20th century and Nazi power had to be broken. The Axis agenda was truly to conquer and rule the world, or so the propaganda has led me to believe. However, this War could have been avoided had the League of Nations shown a little more grace to the humbled German empire of the post-World War 1 era. This tragedy might have been averted had the triumphant nations not "stuck it to them" and exacted a revenge that decimated the economy of Germany. Out of this quagmire and misery came the opportunity to birth a Fuhrer of tremendously evil proportions.
Well, I started out wanting to write a tribute to the young Canadians of World War 1. What happened? Guess my thoughts went astray of my ambition. I wanted to write about the young man from the small Manitoba town that joined up with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles to see the world, have some fun and be home by Christmas. I wanted to express his thoughts of horror as he realized in the midst of intense shelling, the disintegration of friends in those blasts, the smell of rotting flesh and missing limbs, that he was in hell. That it dawned on him that winning medals and achieving glory were nothing compared to surviving and getting out somehow. Or that maybe he knew that now that he was "in it" that he had to finish the job whether it made sense or not.
No we cannot forget. Let's not be blind either. Let's not allow the emotionalism of the terrible cost blur the reasons behind this global crucible. Doesn't the slogan "Lest we Forget" urge us to remember the horrors and be very careful this does not happen again? If they laid down their lives so that we could live in this secure, democratic and prosperous nation and did it on the basis of greater love, can we not honor that?
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