Prince Philip’s life of duty should serve as an example to all
Watching the very moving funeral of Prince Philip made me think of the extraordinary life he lived for nearly 100 years.
His was a generation which had experienced the deprivations of the 1930s, the Second World War, perhaps the only war in recent history worth fighting for. Hundreds of thousands worldwide made sacrifices during tragic and often horrific conditions but kept going regardless. Duty, courage, honour and an elimination of the needs of self for the greater good perhaps epitomizes the creed by which he lived. His was a generation who tried to live by that creed.
One interviewer a few years ago had asked Prince Philip about his naval service during the war and had asked him how he felt during an attack at sea and his simple answer paraphrased was, “one didn’t think about it, one simply got on with the job.” The sums up his whole philosophy of life.
Thinking about my parents’ and grandparents’ generation this is basically what they did and was their attitude to life in general. I have no memories of my parents or grandparents going into deep discussions about their feelings. Perhaps they did, but it was kept private.
Maybe this is part of my British inheritance of having a stiff upper lip and just getting on with it.
In the 1960s I had the privilege of knowing a retired nurse who had served in France during the First World War. She live in a small house on a corner lot opposite where I lived at the time. She must have been well into her 80s when I knew her. Miss Jackson was her name.
A friend and I would go over with our very young children sometimes twice a week to see how she was doing. Although badly crippled by arthritis she would be seen out in the garden whenever spring began, slowly tending to it. Always delighted to see us she would
hobble into her tiny kitchen to make afternoon tea with milk and cookies for the children always refusing any offers of help and full of plans for the garden that year. Her sense of humour was tremendous and I can’t ever remember hearing her complain. She was making plans to have her living room painted reluctantly admitting she might need some help not long before she died.
Miss Jackson just got on with it.
This past year of worry, sadness and death due to COVID-19 has made me wonder about a large portion of a generation born during the 1980s and 1990s in North America. They have, on the whole, and one realizes there are many exceptions to this, experienced very few problems in their lives so far. After more than a year of lockdowns and stayat-home measures cracks seem to be appearing. More and more protests are erupting, certainly south of the border and now here in Canada protesting against further impositions on their freedom. Is this a sense of entitlement or just an inability to see further than the needs of self?
Perhaps we should strive for a happy medium between the two.
Or perhaps this is just the lament of someone not much younger than Prince Philip.