The anniversary of Vimy Ridge has kept my thoughts churning this week. All those young men who died for a piece of real estate. More than three thousand and that was only the Canadian half. There were probably at least that many from the other side. I'm not even sure who the axis were in that war.
Canada had a sparse population. Those who died were the country's future. Young women were left without husbands. Families were never born. Men who came home were haunted by the horror for the rest of their lives. Mothers and fathers carried their grief to the grave.
It was called The Great War, an odd name for something that caused so much death and destruction.
Then, twenty years after the slaughter ended,it started again and thousands more died. They called it World War Two.
After that, the Europeans decided it must never happen again. They formed a Union to make sure .
But now, for us, it is happening again. Only not in the same place and not for any reason we can discern. We are not defending ourselves from an enemy.
On the ceremonial platform at Vimy Ridge, we had a Prime Minister who was once President of the National Citizens Coalition, an organization that supports privatization, tax cuts, and cuts in government spending - A right-wing group formed to fight, among other things, the National Health Plan, the admittance of the Vietnamese refugees and real and perceived government waste in general.
He apparently doesn't believe people should be compelled to contribute taxes to ensure a just society but it's alright for young Canadians to be blown to pieces by land mines and killed in ambush by people who are supposed to be benefiting from their presence.
He is willing though to spend millions for air-conditioned tanks so they can be comfortable while they wait in fear in that isolated God-forsaken, medieval place, thousands of miles from home and families and light years from everything they know and understand.
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