Risking it all

I have tried and tried to imagine risking my life for my country. For most of the population in history, war is not what we have literally experienced. Think about it: in Canada about 66,000 died in WWI and 45,000 in WWII. The population during those periods was about 7,000,000 and 11,000,000 respectively. Most people don’t experience war. Yes, we know people close to us who fought and died, but we ourselves didn’t do it, they did.

            I don’t want to minimize the cost of war. We lose loved ones to war every year and those families affected are devastated. Children lose fathers and mothers to war. I was lucky that my Grand Father survived. I wasn’t so lucky because he was always angry because of his wounds and experience on the battle field. I never really got to know my real Grand Dad. I have his metals and I have seen his pictures in uniform. No matter what he told us, I will never understand his fear and pain.

            A soldier said that “we went and fought because it was the right thing to do.” Some people don’t think war is the right thing to do. They are right because we lose a lot in war. They are wrong because evil has always fought “the good” in this world. To me, war is a necessary evil. Some have chastised the Americans for resisting war, but really who wants to fight? We bomb and use tanks now rather than troops because death in war sucks.

            I have played the war game (weird) called “Call of Duty.” I have found several hundred different ways to kill and die. Sometimes I have to stop and shudder at the thought of being snuffed out of existence by a bad grenade, ricocheted bullet, or friendly fire. In a real war there are no second lives. Amazingly enough, many wounded soldiers go back and fight again a second time. I don’t think I have the balls to fight in a real war the first time.

            What does God have to say about war? God ordered war several times in history. Isn’t he the God of love? Yes he is, but evil has its place in the world. Why doesn’t God protect us from war and evil? You see each person on this earth has a choice: be good or evil. God does not force us to be good. We are free to choose. Choosing to be good is better than being forced to be good. Does that work with our children? God does protect us because good men and women throughout history have saved our bacon several times when evil rises up.

            Countries are closer together when we defeat evil. Canada is more unified when our war heroes win. We are also closer when our fallen heroes lose. Does the common person have the guts to fight if pressed to do so? I don’t know, but I believe we would. Lucky for us God has instilled the will to fight within special people called military personal. They have something inside them I don’t have. They find honor and fulfilment in fighting for freedom. There is that word again: freedom. God gives us freedom and special men and women fight to keep what God has given us.

            Today is Remembrance Day in Canada. It might be more real for the common folk on this day because we were attacked on our own soil last month for the first time. Social media just might have made war more real, vivid, and compassionate than ever before. In a very small way we all experienced war with the attack on parliament hill. Really though, I got my Timmy’s Coffee this morning and took the day off of work to rest. Those that fall to protect my freedom are at rest forever. I have a hard time with that because in the end I am more of a coward than they were.