Inevitable ambivalence
The afternoon (if I can trust the TV news) was an innocent company picnic, for a company of soldiers and their own company of family and friends. The local convention centre was turned into a playground, with a big friendly picnic and speeches from the usual faces to confirm the solidarity that has nothing to do with soldiers and everything to do with politics. Just one chapter in a day that forces the rest of us into inevitable ambivalence.
Our government, the one that doesn’t listen to the people once the elections are over because it is a collection of representatives who are all wise and incapable of error, has decided that we need to have a military presence in a foreign land. In my lifetime, this is a first. I won’t debate the issue here, since one-sided debates are flawed. Today, the public was given a “show of force”.
Once the family picnic was over, the invited guests had a parade around the neighbourhood (of the legislature). Over two thousand soldiers, without arms, letting the public see that they weren’t the two-headed monsters of our nightmares. A simultaneous demonstration by those who are against our national decision to go to war took place on streets nearby, without no danger of confrontation, because everybody was at peace. In my lifetime, there has never been such a demonstration of a velvet glove by the armed forces, until today.
And there’s the rub. Nothing about the day’s activities was confrontational. After all, these weren’t your usual soldiers; they were Canadians. We love peace and flowers. Yes, those same two thousand soldiers will be “under arms” in just over a month, and the budget for bullets will have nothing to do with the cotton candy and hamburgers from today. There will be casualties.
I support the right of our armed forces to do the “job” they’ve been trained to do. I will not, however, pretend to understand the political will. If ever there was a need for some “explaining” by the government, it is now. Show us that our involvement is legal, necessary and useful. Stop pretending that “if you aren’t with us, you’re against us”… it’s so unCanadian.
