Remembrance Day an observation of sacrifices, not a celebration of war
We just rewatched the last episode of M*A*S*H; it’s a reminder that the only thing good about the Korean War was that it ended. That war cost America $22 billion, more than two million died and not much has changed there in 60 years. The world is not a better place after subsequent wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The First and Second World Wars were dubbed the “Great” Wars. Well there is nothing great about any war. My question is this: ethically, do I have to celebrate Remembrance Day?
Celebrate? Surely that’s the wrong word. I don’t think anyone celebrates anything on Nov. 11 — not anymore.
Back when I was a kid in postwar Ottawa, there actually was an element of celebration about Remembrance Day observances; yes, there was sadness, even real grief in the face of still-fresh losses. But there was a fair dose of triumphalism as well; call it pride, a sense of identity or whatever. Canadians felt good about what “we” had accomplished during the two world wars; the sadness of the day was punctuated with stirring military/religious music and the sure sense that we were on the side of righteousness in the face of unmitigated evil. We felt good even as we felt bad.
But nobody celebrates on Remembrance Day anymore. There’s been too much blood under the bridge — too much violence in too many places — for anyone to feel good about the conflicts of the past 100 years.
So don’t celebrate. But do remember.
“Remember” is a multi-faceted word. In common with most Canadians born after the Second World War, I have never fired a weapon, never looked in the eyes of someone who wanted to kill me; apart from being punched by a pissed-off Mennonite, I’ve never faced real violence of any sort. I wasn’t even in the stands for Game 5 of the Blue Jays’ series against the Texas Rangers. My life, in that respect, has been pretty pastel — a palette I share with many (but certainly not all) Canadians. So “remembering” in the sense of recalling first-person combat is not an option for lots of us.
But to “remember” has another meaning as well. My mother could be a stern disciplinarian, and when she was mad at me she would sometimes say, “Remember who you are, and who you want to become.”
Remembrance Day is an excellent time for Canadians to remember who we are and, even more important, who we want to be. For many, and especially (if Facebook is to be trusted) for many young people, it’s been difficult this last decade or so to feel pride in calling ourselves Canadian.
The sense of national greatness that defined our country in the 1950s and early ’60s is a distant memory, eclipsed by the scandals, thinly-veiled racism, environmental recklessness and international belligerence that defines our recent history.
But change is in the air. A sense of optimism has returned to the land of the Maple Leaf.
It was at Vimy Ridge, a hundred or so years ago, that Canadians began to understand who we were as a people, and who we could become. Sometimes, remembering past courage moves us to be courageous in the present, and into the future. Send your questions to star.ethics@yahoo.ca.