The ceremonies are over, the wreaths have been laid, another Remembrance Day in the books.
For those who have lived the . . .
majority of their existence in the 21st century, it isn’t always clear what should be remembered, or why. The further removed each generation gets from large-scale combat, the more surreal it all seems.
Can today’s youth (or adults for that matter) be expected to comprehend why their ancestors were sent abroad, why they witnessed their friends burned alive, drowned in mud, or bludgeoned to death in trench warfare? Is it possible to convey what mothers across the country felt sending their sons off to war, knowing that some would not return; or what a Canadian teenager was thinking as he landed on Juno beach?
War is a continuous sequence of tragedy that is as old as humanity. While those fighting in the First World War famously called it “the war to end all wars,” we know better now. Making war is as integral to our species as making love, and as our technology becomes more sophisticated, so do our methods for harming each other. Drones and cruise missiles have largely replaced the need for boots on the battlefield, but the results they produce are no less horrific.
Conflicts erupt in every society, though that does not mean war is a desired resolution. Any respectable leader knows that it is the means of absolute last resort, when all other options have been exhausted. But as Orwell wrote of his time in the Spanish civil war, “All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.”
For good or ill, war gives people meaning; it offers large, diverse groups a means to unite towards a common purpose. It’s both terrifying and intoxicating, the mechanism through which our societies evolve and disintegrate. Even those that head to war with the noblest intentions can find their minds and values warped in the blast-furnace of combat, and things like personal, political or material gain take precedence over the protection of the innocent.
What should be remembered on November 11 are the sacrifices that soldiers, and our country as a whole, endured in the pursuit of a better world. More importantly, we remember the reason why those hardships were endured: to oppose tyranny and protect people who couldn’t protect themselves. In some gloomy future we may arrive at a similar crossroads and be asked to shoulder the same burden as previous generations.
Lest we forget.
Caleb Nickerson
