Disheartening to watch yet another war
“We have no real concept of the ravages of war. We can sit and watch the news and think how awful it is - just imagine having to toss a few bits into a backpack and leave your home, your town, your country. … We are all citizens of the world, and we must unite to support one another against the evils of war.”
— Elizabeth McMichael, my friend.
As the news channels continue to show the heartbreak and devastation in Ukraine and the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, continues to remind western governments that his country is fighting for its life, I hope that the ways and means can be found in a timely — nay, speedy fashion — to get some of those people here to ride out the terror until they can go home again to rebuild what the tyrant has destroyed.
I got to thinking about the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, which was headquartered in Cornwallis Park from 1994 to 2013. Annapolis County councillor for District 6 Alex Morrison spoke about the centre and the connections around the world in some of the "hard places" at last week’s county council meeting. Of course, there are all kinds of stories about why it closed, and I won’t go into that here. I was always a big fan of Canada’s blue-bereted peacekeepers, too.
I sure like the idea of being just down the road from the Annapolis Basin Conference Centre in Cornwallis Park which may be doing its bit to help refugees feel safe.
History is a funny thing. It depends on who is writing it and who is remembering it. I know people who remember the Second World War very well. It was awful for them. They were liberated by Russians.
My aunt and uncle went to Russia in 1961 with a British tour group. They went by boat from London to St. Petersburg, then by bus to Moscow and across Belarus, Poland et al back to London. While they were in Berlin, The Wall started to go up.
Which brings us to the
Cold War. I know about that. I remember the airlift to and from Berlin getting goods in and out. It started on June
24, 1948, and lasted almost a year. The Soviets blockaded rail, road, and water access to Allied-controlled areas of Berlin. My father was in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), and was posted to a NATO base in Germany in 1953 along with other countries’ officers.
So I have been on the fringes of war, but I have never, thankfully, been in a war. I have seen the aftermath – the rebuilding of homes and buildings from the stone rubble in the tiny country of Luxembourg after 1945. I have heard the stories, read the books, seen the movies, and never want to have anything to do with war – ever.
Yet here we are, watching yet another war. It is disheartening and tragic to see this one added to a long list of human suffering. Here are some of the conflicts since 1945 – India, Palestine, India, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Malaya, Korea, Cuba, Kenya, Cyprus, Vietnam, Suez, Brunei, Indonesia, Aden, Ireland, Falklands, Gulf War, Sierra Leone, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and there are more. It’s worth looking it up.
It is daunting.
“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”