We Should Never Forget
I know this old guy who is a kind and good and just man.
When World War Two was starting his government said that his people needed to rise up and fight against their enemies. They needed to win their freedom from the oppression of the Armistice leftover from the Great War. Furthermore, if they did nothing, Stalin, with all of his weapons and soldiers, would most certainly invade and enslave them. So when his Führer said that Germany needed some good men, he joined the army so he could fight for the freedom and safety of his people.
He wound up on the Russian front. He won’t give me any particular details about his time there, and I don’t blame him really. Somewhere along the way, I suspect he realized what a horrible mistake the whole affair was. Other Veterans have told me that experiencing the horrors of war can give you a perspective that no amount of propaganda can.
When the war was over, the old guy was apparently disgusted enough with his homeland to leave and come to Canada to live in peace. Perhaps he was ashamed, but I don’t think he should be, if that’s the case, because fighting for something you believe in is important. One really can’t fault a young man for standing up and doing what he’s told is the right thing. Millions of other Germans were fooled into the same thinking by Hitler.
Some 60 million people died because of that son-of-a-bitch and the other Axis leaders. But I don’t blame his soldiers. I blame him.
On the news this morning there is a story of an young American, a kid really, who answered his government’s call to rise up and fight the evil of terrorism. They needed to strike out decisively against terror, and if they did nothing, the evil governments would most certainly use their stockpiles of chemical and nuclear weapons against them. So when his President asked, he joined the army to fight for freedom and the security of his people.
He wound up in Iraq fighting to take down Saddam Hussein and his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. But as before, experiencing war first hand can give you a perspective that no amount of propaganda can.
There weren’t any weapons of mass destruction. And the young man figured it out. So when his unit rotated back to the States he went AWOL and fled to Canada. He now refuses to leave because he faces two-to-five in a military slam for his convictions. One really can’t fault a young man for standing up and doing what he thinks is the right thing. But millions of other Americans continue to be fooled by President Bush.
Tens of thousands have died in Iraq so far because of his senseless war there. But I don’t blame the soldiers for doing their jobs. I blame him.
I wasn’t alive when any of the big wars were fought, but I know what the costs were. In the past century as many as one hundred million people have been killed and countless more scared because of our wars. The reason we observe the tradition of Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day, ANZAC Day, Volkstrauertag, or Memorial Day so that we will not forget the horrors behind us. Otherwise we are doomed to face those same horrors again.
