Fighting Man

Somehow using contrast paints gave this guy's uniform a camouflage-like appearance. 

Girl on Memorial

Photograph, 1987

It's Always Darkest Before...

From Our Army at War #259, August 1973. I read this comic at a very young age, and I've never forgotten this haunting sequence. Art by the great Russ Heath, story by Bob Kanigher.

All they are Saying is Give Peace a Chance

A few years back I wrote a Remembrance Day speech for then Lieutenant Governor Lois Hole. At her direction, I made sure that her speech included thanks to the veterans for their sacrifices and made note of their courage and valour. Lois also directed me to include a strong message of peace in the speech, and I did so. While most of the feedback received was positive, several people publicly noted that they were offended by the speech; they felt Lois had gone too far, as if calling for a world free of war somehow took away from the sacrifices of veterans.

At the time I was dumbfounded, but with that experience in my pocket I'm not surprised by the annual vitriol expressed toward those people who choose to mark Remembrance Day not with the red poppy of sacrifice, but the white poppy of peace.Social media is awash with people hurling the worst sort of abuse at people who favour the white poppy over the red, with a few peacemakers stepping in to say "why not wear both?"

That's not a bad solution, but it doesn't work for those who don't wear the red poppy because they believe that the symbol, intentionally or not, has become part of the cultural narrative that says war is necessary and okay. The poppy cannot be apolitical, as some claim, because it's become an integral part of that narrative. Wrapped up as it is in imagery of sacrifice, valour and blood, the poppy can't help but contribute to the central, garish appeal of war: from the outside, it's exciting. Conflict equals drama, which is why there are so many masterpieces that take war as their central theme; as a species, we can't help but be enthralled by it. I'm not immune; I love war movies and literature great and gaudy about war. 

Others avoid the white poppy not because they don't want peace, but because they realize there have been a few times in history when it seems pretty clear - at least if we trust the information we're fed by the custodians of truth and culture - armed intervention was necessary to save lives. The Second World War and various peacekeeping operations come to mind. In a heated moment several years ago I even wished that the UN would intervene to stop the Taliban from destroying ancient Buddhist artifacts, irreplaceable works of art. I might do so again if terrorists threatened the Louvre or the Guggenheim, come to think of it, even though I value human life more than artifacts - even when those lives are maniacal destroyers of art. And of course when people of ill will threaten the weak, I can't help but feel that intervention, even lethal intervention, can be a moral imperative.

But I do admire those who choose the white poppy, because if nothing else they are showing that a counter-narrative is possible. Perhaps a hundred years from now someone will invent knockout gas or stun beams with no side effects, enabling non-violent conflict resolution in even the most extreme circumstances. But that day won't come unless every human being values the life of every other human being, and in that sense I think those who wear the white poppy are performing an important service; at the very least, they're willing to be called some pretty horrible names in the service of peace (which of course is not the same thing as being willing to face bullets and bombs).

I have friends and relatives who have served and do serve in the military, who have risked life and limb because they believed it was the right thing to do. For that reason, I hesitated before expressing my feelings tonight about the poppy and the double-edged sword of remembrance. But I like to think they served so that I could express my views as a free human being, whether my views are right, wrong, or simply naive.

As for me, I wear neither poppy, because my feelings about war and remembrance are too conflicted to express with any one symbol. And perhaps because symbols - from soda brand logos to national flags to those poor innocent poppies - are like lit fuses themselves, just another trigger for conflict.

Raj on Remembrance Day

Today Official Opposition Leader Raj Sherman released a statement to honour Canadian veterans: 

On this day, we bow our heads in silent gratitude for the sacrifices of our veterans. Since Confederation, thousands of Canadians have given their lives or suffered crippling physical and mental wounds to defend our great nation and its freedoms.

In the World Wars, Korea, Afghanistan and in peacekeeping missions around the globe, our veterans have served with great valour, laying down their lives to build a better, freer, more peaceful world. They have defeated tyrants, saved the helpless, and served as our greatest ambassadors to the peoples of the world.

No words or gestures can ever fully capture the magnitude of our debt to our veterans and the men and women currently serving in the armed forces. On behalf of the Official Opposition, it is with the deepest humility and respect that I offer our thanks to Canadian veterans and their families.

We will never forget.

November 11

Here is a speech Lieutenant Governor Lois Hole delivered to the assembled masses celebrating Remembrance Day at the Butterdome on November 11, 2003. Her words here, perhaps unsurprisingly, echo my own feelings.

Ladies and Gentlemen—

 

I’ll begin today by thanking the Canadian Fallen Heroes Foundation for a new initiative that will help all Canadians remember those who gave their lives for freedom. The Foundation is creating remarkable posters that pay visual tribute to our soldiers, posters that will remind us of their sacrifice.

It is a tremendously important project, because, after all, the lessons of history are lost if we allow our memories to die, even if those memories cause terrible grief. So to founder Mark Norman and everyone else who made the project a reality, I offer gratitude and congratulations. You’ve done history a great service.

 

Art alone, of course, cannot keep the past alive; we need to keep the memory of the fallen in our hearts, and we need to pass that respect down to each generation. That is why, every year, we continue to recognize those who came to Canada’s defence in the hours of her greatest need.

 

The 20th century was wracked by terrible wars time and again, but each time, without fail, Canada’s sons and daughters heard the call and restored peace and order to our world. And as the 21st century dawns, these brave and loyal soldiers continue to give up their lives as they try to bring peace, freedom, and stability to the world’s poorest, most desperate people.

We can never truly repay our veterans for their heroism, but we can, and must, remember it. Not just for the sake of honouring the fallen, but for the sake of the millions of people on our planet—the current generation of Canadians among them—who have never had to endure the horrors of war, thanks to their sacrifices. 

 

November 11 is the most significant national event of the year, for without Remembrance Day—or rather without the soldiers who gave us cause to create Remembrance Day—we might not be celebrating the other national holidays we enjoy. We might not have reason to celebrate anything at all.

 

Remembrance Day is one of our country’s most important and solemn rituals, an event that pays tribute to those who died in defence of our freedoms, and the surviving veterans who continue to be haunted by the memories of war. It is the duty of every Canadian to respect and honour the contributions of our soldiers.

 

But at the same time, we have a still greater duty, an obligation to ensure that the efforts of our veterans were not in vain. For if we remember what our soldiers endured, perhaps we will someday find the wisdom to put war behind us.

 

The great American general and later President Dwight Eisenhower, certainly no pacifist, nonetheless recognized the tremendous waste and loss of human potential inherent in war. At a speech in 1953, he said:

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”

 

Eisenhower was right. Each war must be seen as a great failure of human imagination: a failure to identify the root causes of war, a failure to accommodate the genuine needs and grievances of our neighbours, a failure to address the conditions that give rise of dictatorships, a failure to repudiate violence as a means of effecting change.

Our soldiers pay the price for our lack of imagination, and if we ever hope to close that bloody account, then we must find a way to bring lasting prosperity and freedom to all the peoples of the world.

 

Peace will never come until all human beings enjoy good food, clean water, strong shelter, excellent schools, modern hospitals, fully stocked libraries, and the fundamental freedoms that we in the Western world take for granted. 

 

Therefore, the best way to remember the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers is to keep working towards the day when all human beings will at last put aside their petty differences and live as we were meant to: in peace. To do that, we must fight and win one last war: the war on poverty and ignorance.

 

And given their dedication, bravery, and compassion, I have no doubt that Canadian soldiers will be leading the way, as they always have.

So this Remembrance Day, I believe all of us should do two things: we should pay our respects to the thousands of Canadian soldiers who gave their lives for freedom, and then we should look for ways to ensure that one day, we can enjoy peace and prosperity without those sacrifices. It is the only meaningful way to pay the debt we owe our veterans.