At work today, I was asked to read a short speech over our public address system prior to our two minutes of silence. I did this from the manager's office, which has a window overlooking the store, as well as a TV screen showing camera views from all over. So I was able to observe customers observing the pause in their day. Or not.
Actually, this year, it seemed a higher proportion of people were silent, immobile, respectful. That's not to say the store was as quiet as the grave; far from it. I saw for myself that several people continued to shop and I was told later that several conversed with each other. But all in all, it was better than last year.
Last year I was near a cash register when the two minutes of silence were announced, and the reaction from thosee around me startled and disgusted me. There were loud sighs, and one individual actually berated a cashier for not ringing his order through.We all glared at him, silently, and he suddenly seemed to notice the relative quiet. But he didn't understand: as soon as the (mostly) reverent pause was spent, he started bitching again. One gentleman raced his cart up and down the aisles quit e noisily, covering four or five in two minutes and doubtless quite pleased with himself that he was able to take advantage of rival shoppers' sudden stillness.
Look, if you can't take two minutes of your day--out of your year-- to honor those who served and those who still do, then in my honest opinion you ought to have your citizenship revoked. Whenever I see people who don't respect our fallen, I remind myself that many died for their right to be assholes.
It doesn't help much. Because in Canada under Liberal rule, war is a figment, a trifle. Even though we currently have soldiers deployed all over the world, the official governmental attitude is callous disregard. Witness our disintegrating Sea Kings, a replacement for which is still not decided upon. Or our third-rate flea-market submarines. Or the $100 a month rental increase on soldiers' decrepit dwellings. Or the fact that we have to beg rides from the U.S to deploy our troops.
Little-known facts among the younger generation:
- Canada had the fourth largest armed forces in the world in 1945
- Although Confederation came into being in 1867, it is widely agreed Canada was really born at a place called Vimy Ridge, where so many of her sons died...but others prevailed against impossible odds.
- Canada's elite troops rank with the best in the world.
- The man who wrote 'In Flanders' Fields'--John McCrae--was from Guelph, Ontario.
- In the Netherlands, Canadians are particularly revered because we were largely responsible for the liberation of their country.
The liberal media in this country feel that this is a source of embarrassment. They pay poppy service to it in November, but you get the distinct impression their hearts aren't in it. War, after all, is brutal. Whether you talk about mustard gas in the trenches, the searing flash from the Enola Gay, or the booming judgment of an errant Patriot missile, you're giving voice to horror beyond comprehension. In peacetime, in a peaceable country, the terrors of war recede into remembrance. As peace lulls on, they recede further until the faded glimmer of an old service medal is all that's left. And if war goes on...elsewhere, we take comfort in that elsewhere, the more else the better. It allows us to retain our bored sophistication.
Ask the residents of the Ivory Coast how sophisticated they're feeling lately. The Baghdad bourgeoisie are largely dead. War is elemental. Our government, for all its passionate words, lightly regards the wars and the warriors of our past and present, all the more insult when one considers the earnestness and heaviness of the sacrifice.
Remembrance Day...Veteran's Day...Armistice Day...is just that. A day. Showing respect for our veterans is relatively easy, one day a year. Our citizens should demand much more, however: our government must accord those who served and those who still serve the respect they deserve. Year-round. Anything less is slander.
One final note: There has been talk of making November 11th a national holiday. This is a lovely sentiment that's entirely wrongheaded. If we all get the day off, how long before it becomes just another long weekend? I'd say about a year. No, better that we continue the present course: assemblies in schools nationwide extolling the horrors of war and the burden of peace; Taps; two minutes of silence at 11:00 on the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
To all those who served Canada, and to all those who serve her now, a heartfelt thank-you.
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