Consider the true definition of sacrifice during pandemic
“Never have so many owed so much to so few.”
Sound familiar? It’s taken from a speech Winston Churchill gave in 1940 during the Second World War. I can’t express my anger and frustration directed at those across Canada who feel that the recent Health Canada directives shouldn’t apply to them.
I am 60-plus, and so have grown up with stories of my grandfather going off to fight in the First World War. Those brave women and men made a tremendous sacrifice to our nation.
My own father fought in the Second World War where he spent five years in Europe, living in trenches, tents and watching his comrades die. That is the definition of sacrifice.
I’ve heard countless stories from my in-laws who lived in the Netherlands at the time. They recounted periods of time in which they had to eat tulip bulbs in order to survive.
Before my father joined the army at 17 he lived through the Great Depression, what many out West called the Dirty 30s. After the stock-market crash of 1929, the Prairies experienced eight years of continuing drought. My father’s family being farmers, alongside many of their neighbours, suffered through hunger and disease. The soil wouldn’t yield crops and the Canadian government was in no position to offer them help.
Our health-care professionals, emergency services, essential-service workers and military are risking their personal safety in order to provide us all with the necessities to get through the current crisis. These people are working long hours, many in dangerous and compromising environments, all for the well-being of their fellow Canadians.
For the average Canadian, all that is being asked of us is to stay home. Stay home and order takeout or have your groceries delivered. Try out new meals, drink wine. Stay home. Read a book, watch TV, movies, Netflix, Amazon or, heaven forbid, reconnect with your live-in family.
You have access to the internet and phones to connect with your friends.
Our government is expanding emergency supports almost daily to make our task of easing the pressures on front-line workers and our healthcare system more manageable.
So, that makes me wonder, what have you sacrificed?
If you believe that staying home and adhering to the directives from our health professionals is too great a sacrifice, then you should be ashamed to call yourself Canadian.
Roy Kingsmith, South Surrey