| We must never forget the sacrifices made |
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| Local Content - Editorial |
| Written by production |
| Friday, 13 November 2009 19:29 |
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War and conflict have very little to recommend themselves. The cost in lives, wasted ambition and devastation is always high for the conquest of a nation or even a continent, or their liberation, depending on how one looks at things, and who gets the privilege of writing the history books. Inevitably, it is often attempted to polarize the conflicts of the present and the past into black-and-white understandings of good and evil. In reality, this is almost never the truth. The brutal contests of total war in the 20th century were waged in wholesale against civilian populations, by both sides. And while we who prevailed might have occupied the moral high ground in many of those conflicts, it would be more difficult to convince ourselves that the blood of others, no matter how justified it might have been, still remains on our hands. And all who have fought through such conflicts and have seen their horrors firsthand would probably agree there is nothing good in war except its ending. That is in no way meant to detract from the sacrifices made by the many people who have fought and died in the many conflicts this nation has been a party to since its inception in 1867, and before. Every year at this time we honour the memory of those who fought in the name of liberty and to secure the freedoms we now enjoy in the face of unimaginable tyrannies. This nation has had a brave martial history, more so than many are probably even aware of. In the great 18th-century conflicts that convulsed the North American continent as the British struggled with the French for domination, our ancestors fought alongside, on either side. In the great battles of the War of 1812, in which the British fought against an American tyranny bent on our conquest, Canadians and Indian warriors stood alongside the redcoats in the bloody clashes that have almost been forgotten. Who now remembers Lundy’s Lane or Chateauguay, Queenston Heights and Crysler’s Farm? If we are not to forget our more recent history, and the sacrifices of our grandfather’s generation, we must be vigilant to keep the memory of the past alive in the minds of our children. In more recent times, we have known victory at Vimy Ridge, as well as the lows of the Somme and the soggy death of Ypres. We have known the terror and triumph of Juno beach in Normandy and the bloody futility of Dieppe. We have known Korea, and Bosnia and now Afghanistan. We know the importance of such conflicts in securing peace, order and liberty for millions of people around the world. But we have also known the terrible face of conflict, and that we must not forget. |
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