This past week has been an emotional one for Canadians. Ceremonies overseas and on our home front have given many of us cause to reflect.
Last Friday, June 6, we remembered the brave men who crossed a murky sea on D-Day to begin the Allied onslaught to Nazi strongholds. For some of us, the recollections were personal as we thought of our beloved relatives — men and women who left the comforts of home to put an end to the Axis’ reign of terror in Europe, Africa and Asia. Some of them were teenagers, people who in B.C. today would not be old enough to have an unrestricted driver’s licence. Many of them did not make the trip home.
People who have made the journey to Normandy and stood on the shore where the men landed 70 years ago describe it as a gut-wrenching experience. For many, actually being on the same ground where their father, grandfather, uncle or cousin lost their life is almost too much to bear. Sorrow overcomes them, and the realization of just what they and, subsequently, Canada lost in that war so many years ago renders them speechless.
No one can truly imagine what our lives would have been like had the Allies not been the victors in that bloody war. We see movies that detail the atrocities committed by the Fascists — people exterminated because of their race, sexual orientation or religion, unspeakable experiments done in the name of science by sadists, wholesale destruction of precious art and unparalleled brainwashing of entire countries.
Many who look around the world at the fighting going on today may wonder if it was all worth it. There is no easy answer.
Right now recent horrific events in Moncton and Vancouver have left many Canadians wondering what’s happening in our peaceful country.
On Tuesday, the day three constables were eulogized in New Brunswick, we wore red in a show of support for our national police force — men and women, like the soldiers of old, who face each day not knowing what their shift may bring. It’s easy to overlook the sacrifices these modern-day heroes make for us. Because we’re not there when a violent home wrecker is taken into custody, we shrug and take it for granted. When we read the police report of the umpteenth drunk driver being pulled off the road, we fail to remember the lunatics who, instead of stopping, drive directly at the arresting officer. And unless we’re the unlucky householders reporting a burglary in the middle of the night, the danger the attendees may have faced doesn’t even register.
We are very lucky people — fortunate to be living in a country where, when our safety is in jeopardy, we can pick up a phone and expect to have instant response.
We owe a great debt to the men and women who have paid the ultimate price to guarantee that privilege. To all of them we say an unequivocal thank you.
