Never forget
Today in Canada, as well as in many other countries around the world, we celebrate the end of World War I and remember those soldiers who gave their lives serving their countries. In Canada, we wear a poppy to show our respect for those who have fallen; the Royal Canadian Legion makes them available in return for small donations. It is of course associated with the Remembrance Day poem “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian soldier John McCrae, who served in World War I.
World War I was known then as “the war to end all wars.” Yeah … uh, that didn’t really work very well, did it? In fact, sometimes it feels like we have even more strife than ever. We learn about the two World Wars in school, study their causes and their aftermaths, but do we really learn from these wars? Do we take to heart their morals and stay firm in our resolve to never again lead the world over that terrible precipice? Sometimes, I have my doubts.
I’m not very into nationalism. I‘m proud of my country and proud to be Canadian, sure. But I have no intention of serving in our armed forces, and if we had conscription again, I’d be a conscientious objector. Nationalism can be dangerous, as World Wars I and II demonstrated.
Yet even though I do not agree with military actions, I respect those men and women who put their lives on the line to serve. They are standing up and fighting—literally—for what they think is right. They demonstrate their courage, conviction, and desire to see change. Can you say the same? How many of us have blogs, talk about change, but don’t actually do anything about it? For this reason, if for none other, soldiers deserve respect and admiration. And that is the soldier that should be celebrated, not the gun-toting action heroes we so often see in movies.
I learned today, listening to the CBC radio coverage of the 11:00 ceremony at the National War Memorial, that there is only one Canadian veteran of World War I who remains alive. He didn’t actually see combat, and he has lived in the United States since 1920. We even share the same last name, although we are not, to my knowledge, related. John Babcock is 108 years old. Ninety years ago, when the armistice was signed, he was serving in the Canadian corps at 18 years of age.
Which brings us to now. The present. World War I had a tremendous effect on development of the entire twentieth century. It ended only ninety years ago—a brief time considering the entire span of the history of human civilization, but a lifetime for a single human being. Soon, all those who lived during the war will be gone, and all we’ll have are our memories of them, as well as whatever testimonies we could record. We owe it to them to never forget their legacy. We owe it to ourselves to never forget, to learn from our past, and to strive to improve the world.
The rules of war
For the past week we‘ve been watching The Patriot in history class. The movie is moving in some parts. There are incredibly tender moments, like when Susan finally speaks to her father and breaks down just as he’s leaving again. That part almost made me cry. Unfortunately, the latter part of the movie lacked that same emotional fervour, simply because I was too busy laughing.
And this is through no fault of the director. The movie was very accurate. I just can’t get over how silly warfare was back in that time.
Everyone arranges his- or herself in nice, neat lines. Then the two sides march forward. One side fires, reloads, while the other side fires. If you get shot, you get shot. It is, as Mr. Nowak puts it, “gentlemanly warfare”. And watching it on a television makes it look so absurd! The melée part with bayonets and swords isn’t so bad. But just the initial firing of musket volleys looks so ridiculously polite that I completely understand why guerrilla warfare surged in popularity afterward. Sure, you had to clean your uniform more often—but at least you were alive.
So that got me thinking. Some current rules of war make sense, like treating members of the Red Cross, Sweden, and American Idol with neutrality, etc. Others are just weird. Like one (well, it’s not really a rule so much as a “strategy”) is the idea of “mutually assured destruction” as a deterrent to nuclear war. 
What are some current rules of war or military strategies/policies that you think are absurd?
