Various Veins
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We celebrated a couple of birthdays on the weekend, one grandson, one great grandson. Feelings of pride and joy that flowed through my breast were tempered by the awareness of horrors washing over earth just now.
In one case a boy who has reached an age to have strong beliefs uttered some notions that go against my own. There are families in Canada who are suffering over the same sort of situation that have lost sons to the political and religious wars in foreign lands.
Should young people who have slipped away to fight be intercepted and brought home before they reach their destination? Sadly, no because they will not be persuaded of error. They will continue their mission here in response to urgings from remote leaders. Better to let them achieve martyrdom in the heat of battle.
It is better to try what has been set in motion here, to guide children's learning to arm them against recruiters' brain washing.
In the other case the child is learning to walk and talk, and manipulate remote controls for electronic devices. How early that ability is manifested! His mind isn't yet, I passionately hope, vulnerable to philosophical inculcations.
There were several guests at the younger child's party who were his own age. They were learning attitudes of sharing and interacting that will serve them well as they mature.
Will diseases of body and mind infect these and other young ones some day, or will they be able to live happy productive lives? It's partly a matter of luck, but it's also a matter of teaching people how to prevent passing viruses both physical and mental to those around them. We are witnessing the results of ignorance in the wildfire spread of ebola virus. We are witnessing the spread of vicious religious beliefs.
When Poland was under attack from the USSR after a period of relative freedom, I witnessed a case that illustrates why so many Canadians rushed to join World War I. This man was a veteran of the Polish warriors in Britain in World War II, a Spitfire pilot whose name is well known in Tillsonburg. He was ready to go back to man the ramparts in his homeland.
Canadian men and women enlisted in the forces in World War II for the same reason some are ready to go to Asia Minor and Africa today. They saw a threat that unchecked would cross the seas to North America. Conrad Black has expressed confidence that ISIS is little likely to be a threat beyond Africa because, he says, there is always a Thermidor. That is in reference to the time in the French Revolution when the followers of Robespierre turned on him and sent him to the guillotine. He went too far in his efforts to purify the French. We are seeing this in Africa now, but the burning question is should Canadians and Americans help militarily until local forces get control of ISIS forces. We are being asked to help, not to lead. That is good.
Thomas Mulcair uses sarcasm to try to convince us Stephen Harper is not to be respected nor trusted. Mulcair nitpicks over numbers. His mind is on the next election, not the national good.
Justin Trudeau uses the language of schoolyard spats as he urges Canadians to do what we do best, give humanitarian aid. This is a myth. Canadian warriors have a reputation for fighting like pit bulls. In the Korean War, Chinese forces avoided battle with Canadians, preferring to attack Americans who would retreat in face of the enemy.
Canadians showed this same doggedness in Europe in World War I and II. For a personal account, read "Because We Are Canadians" by the local author Charles Kipp.
As peace keepers, the real story was told to me by an officer stationed in Cypress between Greeks and Turks. It was the most boring assignment of his career. A more tragic example is that of General DeLaire in Africa.
Being aware of history can be unsettling but the alternative is the path to certain ruin.