Yes, it's been a long time since my last posting, call it writer's block or what ever you want.
Anyhow, we just celebrated CANADA DAY, and after devouring "The Cake", helped by a bunch of neighbours, I was strolling along a foggy beach, Dixie right in front of me.
If we, as "the people" want to keep our freedom and democracy in our country, we must "stand on guard for thee", as the lyrics of "O Canada" state so nicely. We must watch out for those powers which could threaten our freedom and our democracy, and we must be prepared to take a fight for it.
When I was very young I was a pacifist. I could not understand why a country has to spend billions on defense, especially when there were so many shortcomings to solve other, seemingly more serious problems.
My date of birth is only 7 years after the end of WWII, and with that in mind, I should have known better, but I think it was the knowledge that my father had been a WWII soldier in the SS, which made me a pacifist. Grandpa had been in the trenches of Flanders and the horror of his stories scared the 17-yr. old boy I was.
Today, more than 50 years later, I know that the world has to be prepared to act against evil imperialistic dictators, like Putin. As a country of the west we simply cannot allow that a peace-loving nation like Ukraine be overrun by Russian hordes. We are living on the same globe and if we want to preserve and expand freedom and democracy we have to pay the price. That goes for our neighbours as well. Since WWII we have enjoyed a relative peaceful time of almost 80 years. But if the Allied wouldn't have stopped the Nazis....where would we be today?
Of course, threats are not only coming from the outside. There is plenty of evidence that our way of life can disappear quickly, by electing the wrong people to lead our government and to serve and protect the population. Every day we can read about people who try to erode our values of equality and democracy. Here in Canada, we might not see these threats so much, as we have mostly control over them. But by looking across the border to the U.S., we realize the situation is quite different there. And maybe Germany itself is the best example, as they once allowed a dictator to rise from within.
When I think of Canada I think of a free country. And freedom can only exist if every citizen also carries his/her share of responsibility.
When it is time for an election we don't stay home, but we give our vote to a person we trust. Through the people we choose to represent us, we make sure that our politics are not governed by "Big Money" but by people whose mission it is to make life better for those who are in need of it. We reject demagogue rhetoric, we don't fall for cheap talking points, designed to rein in votes for would-be dictators and power-hungry individuals.
Naturally, the world will never be perfect, but at least we can and should do our very best.
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ReplyDeleteWell said, Peter. All we can do here in the states is to keep trying to elect sane people. Happy Canada Day!
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