Every time Remembrance Day approaches, I have that question as to what I’ll write about. Yet, every time I have the honour and pleasure of speaking with veterans, it becomes clear each has a story to tell.
Each modestly assumes the story is not that interesting, but for anyone my age, especially someone who studied 20th century history, it’s a privilege to hear.
To me, that’s what Remembrance Day is about: Never forgetting what these people faced in experiences unimaginable for most of us.
Sure, it’s important to don poppies and show up at the cenotaph on Nov. 11 to pay respect, but if we’re forgetting the stories, both personal and historical, then we’re doing these veterans a disservice.
They fought in a time that was perhaps less cynical, before Watergate and Vietnam, yet conflicts like the two World Wars were no less complicated than the turmoil in the world today, and the scale of loss is unequalled.
While still complex, there was a clearer moral imperative during the Second World War.
On the other hand, the First World War was supposed to be quick, with the soldiers home by Christmas of 1914. It wasn’t and, ultimately, it became clear that the Great War, as it was then known, was an unprecedented failure of diplomacy and foreign policy, of international agreements between alliances that were designed to protect each other and prevent war, but that did anything but.
That doesn’t dismiss the sacrifices of those who enlisted a century ago. On the contrary, it illustrates the difference between honouring veterans simply for show and truly considering what we as a society asked of them then and ask of soldiers now.
There are wars of defence and, more commonly these days, of foreign policy.
In the case of the latter, it becomes all the more important for those of us who are middle-aged and in positions to make decisions to determine whether the cause is just and necessary, especially if we are to consider asking young men and women to put themselves in harm’s way. The answer could still be yes, but at least we have given due process.
In doing so we honour our veterans. By all means, wear your poppy, but do not forget why we fall silent every Nov. 11.
