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LETTER: Reflections on Remembrance Day from Canadian foreign aid worker

Editor: I would like my words to honour the memory of the many men and women who gave their lives in the service of this country. My thoughts quickly focus on the First World War, the Second World War, and the Korean War.

Editor:

I would like my words to honour the memory of the many men and women who gave their lives in the service of this country. My thoughts quickly focus on the First World War, the Second World War, and the Korean War. Canadians also served bravely in the Spanish Civil War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf Wars, Afghanistan and the broader war against terrorism.

It is important to remember the men and women of the Canadian Merchant Marine who served so bravely in the North Atlantic during the Second World War. Additionally, members of the Canadian military have functioned as peacekeepers in Egypt, Vietnam, Kosovo, Cyprus, Haiti, Sierra Leone and Mali.

I have been privileged to work with the Canadian Forces in emergency relief operations in Honduras during Hurricane Mitch and witnessed firsthand their excellent work as peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

As a foreign aid worker, I have spent many years implementing relief programs in conflict zones. I have been on a hillside in Central America and watched helicopter gunships bomb innocent civilians across the valley from my position. I have seen people die from automatic weapons fire in my immediate presence. I have been arrested and interrogated by armed men on numerous occasions, and I have counselled rape and torture victims in both Central America and West Africa. Unfortunately, I have witnessed the tragic impacts of war on ordinary people.

My generation of Canadians, for the most part, has known peace and is undoubtedly the wealthiest and perhaps the most privileged of all time. However, this is not the case for much of the world.

In this context, I have always been haunted by an interview I heard between Canadian journalist and historian Gwynne Dyer and an Israeli tanker commander. The Israeli officer was talking about what it was like serving in the Yon Kipper War. During this conflict his tank took a direct hit from an anti-tank missile. His crew was killed, yet somehow, he survived. He went on to talk about the inevitability of war. He said his grandfather knew war; his father knew war; he knew war. He had no doubt that his children would also experience it. What a great tragedy.

And yet most Canadians have been spared the horrors and trauma of war. All the more reason for us to honour the memory of those that have gone before us and done so much – that we might be spared.

There is a wonderful passage in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, where he eloquently summarizes the realities of war. Marquez talks about a retired general from the Colombian army who is forced to hide in a deserted shed in the back of his family’s ancestral home while his adversaries relentlessly search for him. The shed had been deserted for so long that the General was forced to share his hiding spot with the venomous snakes and large rats.

As the general’s enemies searched his hideout, he remarked that he did not know why people wasted so many words trying to describe war. War is one word. War is fear.

But perhaps war is more than that. War brings out both the best and worst of humankind. I have seen unspeakable cruelty. I have also seen enemies in a war show great compassion for each other. I have seen magnificent heroism and selfless acts of kindness.

The majority of Canadians have been spared the horror of war and this is in large part because of the heroism of our parents and grandparents.

May we continue to honour the men and women who gave their lives in the service of this country and remember their sacrifice and courage.

Paul Carrick,

Canmore,

Embrace International Foundation

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