"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Monday 19 October 2015

NEVER AGAIN

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "GUEST POST FROM JACQUELINE STUART": 

This letter is pure and utter bulls**t !

This is not a "Peace Park" for crying out loud. This is a memorial to members of the area that fell while defending the country. On November 11 we have parades to this site to lay wreaths and as part of that ceremony, the firing of a salute with the honour guard. They are carrying the weapons that are used to defend the country just like the LAV was used.  

The LAV may be armed but for the most part, the weapons are defensive. The role of a LAV to transport personnel in the battlefield.  

Posted by Anonymous to  Our Town and Its Business at 19 October 2015 at 07:37

*********************************************************

The above comment probably illustrates thinking that went into Council's decision to place a
killing  machine at the Cenotaph and spend $15,000 of public resources on a concrete support pad. 

Jacqueline Stuart signed her name and provided a link to documentation regarding the Peace Park designation. 

It was news to me .I was not aware of initiative to  re-designate War Memorials as Peace Parks. 

It makes sense, it might have derived from awareness, as time passes, generations intervene, 
meaning is obscured and war memorials are mistaken as monuments to the glorification of war.
The name suggests as much. 

Prayers ... poppies  ....names chiseled in stone ...the Altar of Sacrifice...heads bowed for  a minute of silence at the eleventh hour,of the eleventh day ,of the eleventh month, while people world over remember the awful sacrifice and the vow never to allow it to happen again, are all part of the ceremony. 

The parade....firing a salute by an honor guard .....are centuries old military rituals to commemorate fallen comrades.

Display of a killing machine is the opposite. Placing one alongside the altar of sacrifice is an abomination. 

How does anyone  who has attended  the November 11th  Ceremony at the Cenotaph and heard the   words 

WE SHALL REMEMBER 

Fail  to understand... 

It is not about glorifying war. 

It is a reminder never to allow it to happen again. Otherwise their sacrifice was for nothing. 

War machines displayed anywhere in our community serve no useful purpose whtsoever. 

They contribute nothing to the reason we gather and solemnly vow on November 11th. at the Aurora Cenotaph never to repeat the anguish. 

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

War Memorials are Peace Parks. The Military may do their annual exercise as we remember but they do not leave
weapons stacked around with the wreaths. The initiative by Council should have been road-tested to see what
residents thought of the idea. Maybe they would support it, maybe not.
As for my family, we welcome the tulips.

Anonymous said...

ICYMI: http://barrie.ctvnews.ca/police-charge-former-city-of-barrie-manager-with-fraud-charges-1.2616783

Anonymous said...

What's next ? An ambulance ? If someone does not like the Peace Park designation, they can always object to whatever government group decided to do it.

Anonymous said...



I do not know how or why our Cenotaph was converted from a memorial to those who died fighting on our behalf into a Peace Park. This is obviously NOT what it is.

There are numerous memorials, including national ones, in countries in honour of the "Unknown Soldier." And if you travel to the former battlefields in Belgium and France you will see tens of thousands of gravestones and white crosses standing "row on row," all carefully tended, out of respect for those who lie below.

Aurora's cenotaph is uniquely our own, and does not need the embellishment of one of 250 similar LAVs that the government intends to distribute across the country, thereby rendering us one of 250.

The fossil brains that occupy the council chamber should really stick to the business of representing our best interests, and not jump at opportunities that involved the expenditure of our tax dollars, even, if in this case, a niggardly $15,000.

In a brilliant decision council decided to issue a debenture to cover the $3,500,000 cost of LED street lights instead of dipping into the Hydro Fund. This latter would have created a riot and heads would have been appropriately battered. This might have had a positive effect as some common sense could have resulted.

I am unimpressed with our municipal government. But then so am I with our provincial and federal ones.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, sure, the weaponry is :" defensive ". I note he adds " for the most part".
Most weapons were designed for defence but somehow it never turns out that way over time and usage.
After an engagement, all possible weapons are removed from the site and they certainly are not left with the dead or dying.
Given the recent intrusion into memorial services by pretenders, exclusion of life ammo should be considered.

Anonymous said...



Harper is toast - burned at that.

Anonymous said...

Majority gov't. Sad night for canada

I'm Chuffed to Bits said...

Sad night for you maybe, 21:45. I don't think you're in a position to speak for the whole country.

Anonymous said...



Menegakis and Brown seem to also be toast.

Join the ranks of the unemployed!!!

Anonymous said...



21.45

You're also toast, Badly burned. No jam or peanut butter.

Anonymous said...

A majority gov't isn't good for anyone.

Anonymous said...

22:17
There is a lot to be done and hopefully the enthusiasm to get at it.
I am really proud of Aurora - both end held their centre.

Anonymous said...

I don't have a problem with a majority government. It has a clear mandate from the people - sounds like democracy.

Anonymous said...

I hope the Liberal supporters are happy and they can stop filling my Facebook feed with anti-Harper vile.

Just like I said after the municipal election a year ago, we shall see if the promises made come to fruition. My guess is not. Maybe I will be surprised, but how long do we wait for the marijuana laws to change or the taxes for "middle class" to be scaled back?

In my experience, I would think that once Trudeau gets a look at the books, a lot of promises will be cancelled because "it was worse than we thought" reasons. A convenient way out. I will laugh at you all then.

Anonymous said...

Democracy did take place last night. Now we can all sit back and smoke a doobie with our Birkenstocks. Peace out.

Anonymous said...

07:40, no one does "anti-" like the Harperites. We've been inundated by American-style negative ads for years now. That's my favourite part of Election Day - no more nasty, negative, neo-con commercials.

Anonymous said...

@ 7:40
A change in the marijuana laws may take place fairly swiftly. It stands to generate money for the governments, Colorado
has been a positive testing ground for other jurisdictions. I think that is cool as it beats getting cream for arthritis through
the mail and expecting the Mounties on the doorstep.

Anonymous said...

11:14
Isn't it lovely. We have to try to keep as many parties viable as possible so as to prevent a total clash with
just 2 taking out any getting in their way.

Anonymous said...


" The bold right wing experiment is dead."
I filched that from Saunders in the Globe.