Remembrance Day - the Canadian Way

Today is Remembrance Day. If you're stateside, like me, you may think of it as Veteran's Day - I won't bother to argue, the meaning of it is way to deep to spend time fighting over a name. But see, in Canada, we do things a bit differently. In the US, the emphasis is often on the military, the brave service of men and women in the myriad of areas in the armed forces. Canadians however, have a bit of a different slant - and the famous poem - In Flander's Fields, captures it well.

In Flander's Fields the poppy's blow
between the crosses row on row
that mark our place...

We mark the dead on this day, remembering all those who gave their lives - not with a triumphant pat on the back or a firm chest protruding as if somehow we were proud of the blood that we had shed. I think that the First World War was actually a turning point in our nation's history, as that poem illustrates. We saw the scourges of war, we felt it, and we were marked forever. We've been participants in wars and conflicts since, but always reluctantly calling ourselves to arms, always recognizing that peace is the ultimate goal - and that war is a painful problem that we would like to avoid at all costs. In recent decades it is the blue helmet of the peacekeeper that Canadians most often wear when sent into harms way.

On this whole subject of Canadians in conflict, I received an e-mail from my mother recently, which reproduced an article, said to have been written by present Irish Independent journalist Kevin Myers, formerly of the London-based Telegraph. The e-mail was titled "Salute to a brave and modest nation" - and I wanted to believe it was true. It spoke straight to the heart of Canadians. But as I researched it online, I kept finding various references that I couldn't substantiate, and I wondered "did some Canadian simply write this and throw it out online?" - it would make the entire argument moot. But finally, I was able to track it down, rightly attested to Kevin Myers and the London Telegraph, dated 21 April, 2002.

I want so much to reproduce the entire article here, but I abhor an enormous blog post. Instead, I'll throw down some highlights and reference the entire article in it's original setting at the Telegraph:

"It seems that Canada's historic mission is to come to the selfless aid both of its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored...

...The Canadians proudly say of themselves - and are unheard by anyone else - that 1 per cent of the world's population has provided 10 per cent of the world's peace-keeping forces. Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peace-keepers on earth - in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peace-keeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia...

So who today in the US knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbour has given it in Afghanistan? Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac, Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost..."

When I reflect on Remembrance Day, hear In Flander's Fields and read this article, it makes me damn proud to be a Canadian...