City Of God 38

Yesterday I pinned onto my shirt my white peace poppy, and there it is going to stay until Monday, the day after Remembrance Day. Except for when they used to give them out in school, and wearing one was more or less compulsory, I have never worn the red poppy, traditional symbol of remembering the wars that wracked the twentieth century. It wasn't for a lack of gratitude to the soldiers that I have since refused the red poppy, rather as a silent protest against all forms of war and militarism. I have never participated in the ceremonies at the cenotaph for that same reason. When the wars are remembered in this country, no thought is given to the millions of innocent victims of war: the Korean and Chinese comfort women, the dead and permanently scarred from the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the hundreds of thousands incinerated to death during the fire-bombings of German cities, not to mention the millions of other civilian deaths on both sides of the conflict. Nothing is mentioned either about the tremendous environmental damage that entire nations sustained from the ravages of war. Neither does anyone even whisper about war crimes and atrocities committed by the Allies, unless they were Russian. Here in Canada, the wars are viewed through the victors' lens and that is going to distort the truth somewhat. Yes, we know that the world was saved from the Nazi threat and Dutch people are still grateful for being liberated by our soldiers, and rightly so. Where I draw the line, is when people think that the end justifies the means. Teaching young men (and women) to kill, even for the most laudable reasons, is a flagrant abuse of their humanity. Killing runs contrary to the most essential and precious core of what it is to be human. This argument, of course, is always missing from Remembrance Day observances: the fact that it isn't just the terror of the battle field and all the attendant horrors of war that end up scarring our soldiers for life but even more, that they had to kill other people. If you are wanting to bore me with useless arguments about the dangers of foreign invasion for not having a military defense strategy, we have only to look to Costa Rica, the most prosperous country in Latin America, and one of the world's highest indices of human happiness and satisfaction. They abolished their military in 1948, have invested the revenue that would otherwise have been squandered on killing and death machines, into building a social infrastructure that makes Costa Rica the envy of Latin America. Invasions? They are only invaded by tourists! This isn't to say that good cannot come from war. Ask any Dutchman (or woman) of a certain age, and if you are to even hint to them that there is no such thing as a just war, be prepared to have a volley of wooden shoes launched at you. But good can and often does come of evil. Our mistake is to use these resultant benefits as a wholesale justification for the wanton death and destruction that come from military interventions. Those people who get killed are never going to return to bless us with their gifts and presence. And the soldiers who killed them are going to have to live with those scars to their souls until their dying day. For those of us who make all the classic excuses for justifying war, I have a challenge: learn to think creatively, and in the interests of peace and justice. Learn from the lessons of history. Learn the value of life. Learn about constructive dialogue. Learn how to listen with respect to those with whom you disagree. I do honour the soldiers, by the way. For many years, as a home support worker, I cared for veteran seniors, and often the conversation involved their war experiences. For what they have suffered, as government issued cannon fodder, they ought to be honoured. And their sacrifice wasn't for nothing. But we have to include in the conversation the victims and survivors of the so-called enemy nations. They need to be heard if only to provide balance and as a corrective for the brain-numbing chest-thumping and nationalist propaganda that gets manufactured in this country November after November.