The Futility of Complacency

Yesterday I came across an article that was trying to remember the noble sacrifice of a soldier in the First World War who died minutes before the cease fire. The article came to a disturbing conclusion and cited the futility of conflict. The whole point of Remembrance Day is not to remember the futility of conflict it is to remember the nobility of conflict. It is to remember that our freedom was bought with a price and to express gratitude for the sacrifice made on our behalf.

I would like to clarify that I have a profound respect for the journalist than penned that article and I will state that we are simply looking at different situations from different perspectives. Stopping Hitler was the right thing to do. Stopping Stalin and Mao is the right thing to do. However, there are many other conflicts that are not so noble and are in essence futile as in a waste of time.

The journalist's experience isn't with the First and Second World War, the journalist's experience is with subsequent wars in the Middle East which some could liken to the former conflict in Northern Ireland. Catholics and Protestants fighting each other over religion is as insane as Jews and Muslims fighting with each other over religion. It is a contradiction of terms. Orlando Bloom said it well in the movie Kingdom of Heaven. Defending Jerusalem isn't about defending a landmark, it's about defending people who live in that landmark regardless of race, colour or creed. It's about protecting people who cannot protect themselves. That is the oath.

I will admit that there have been subsequent conflicts after the First and Second World War that were less noble. Invading Iraq for their oil, invading Afghanistan to build an oil pipeline and restore the opium production was anything but noble as with the desecration of Muammar Gaddafi. In those conflicts we were on the wrong side.

It's easy for us to get stuck in the past and focus only on the First and Second World War asking how could the Germans let Hitler gas all those Jews? The answer is simple. Just like George Lucas so eloquently portrayed in the Star Wars saga, Hitler used false flag attacks to con the German people. We in the West are on that same road today.

Our apathy in Burma has lead to our complacency over our own current situation. When the RCMP publicly declare that they have stopped investigating organized crime, that means they have become culpable in it. That is what we now need to address. Lest we forget.



Likewise, fighting a war for the right to keep slaves was not noble. Opposing slavery was. Abraham Lincoln Instructs Ulysses Grant. Abraham Lincoln The Gettysburg Address