Favourite Books

  • The Green Mile
  • Animal Farm
  • Lord of the Flies
  • Lord of the Rings
  • To Kill a Mockingbird

Tuesday 5 November 2013

Ignorant Canadians!

 Well, I am sure the title might have made a few folks shake their heads, and maybe click in, hope enough do so, to read the insanity that some over educated, ignorant, University group has embarked upon.
 Of course you already know, I am old-school. I was raised when young people assumed respect was something that had to be earned. No one (schools) informed us that just because we were standing on the planet, we instantly deserved respect. That was something that belonged to human beings who had accomplished something in life, besides being born. I spent all my young years believing when I went off into the big world, managed to survive, and do something worthwhile, I might just receive that same respect.
  I am going to tell you the very day I realized times had changed, and there was no way the respect I had paid adults would be returned.
   Some of you know that a couple of years after graduating High school, in my tiny little hometown, I decided to join the Canadian Armed Forces. Hey, it was peacetime, so it wasn't as huge a thing as it is now, but, I recall I was perhaps the first young person, since WW2 from this town, to make this move. My first posting after Basic Training was Uplands Airbase in Ottawa. Yes, the Country capital! When my ex and I married, there were no accommodations for NCO's and Privates on base, so we rented an apartment just off base.
  The day I had my eyes opened to the future of no respect happened in this apartment. I came home from base, in uniform, and saw the elevator door open, and a young teen inside, I asked him to hold the door, and....he told me to "f*ck off". That was when reality dawned on me. My life was not going to be one where young people moved out of the way on the sidewalk, or gave up their seat, or even acknowledged a military person. That moment was devastating to me. I had followed the rules growing up, partly because I was under the impression this was only until I grew up, and did something, and then I would be entitled to that amazing thing, respect.
  WTF happened? I taught my children to respect adults, if they didn't they would certainly not make the same mistake again! One day, my oldest came home from school, and told us that we owed her respect. Hellooooo...Yep, she had been told at school all human beings deserve respect. That information blew us out of the water. And, I suppose at that moment, we should have clued in, it was clear that word was being used out of context.Somewhere along the line, respect and consideration (perhaps) got mixed up. Someone in charge of teaching children did not check their words.
  Respect is earned!! Respect is admiration for someone who has accomplished something out of the ordinary. We are all born ordinary, to deserve respect, we must do beyond simply being. I refuse to respect anyone, simply because they are homosapien!
  Now that said, we move onto what got me on this line of thought. Today I read an article stating some assinine group of university students has decided to change the Red poppies that we have come to love and respect (yes, that word is used in the correct context). They have come up with some absolutely skewed thought process that makes them actually feel that it is time to take the red out and rally for a Peaceful white poppy. Helloooo..educated idiots!! That red stands for something that a peaceful white poppy cannot erase. That red stands for Honour and Glory, and sacrifice. That red is a sign of respect for those who have made our country safe, it stands for all those young and old, who went/go off to battle. It stands for all those men and women who suffered, not only from wounds, but from nightmares of surviving horrors these educated snot noses will never know, beyond books or film.
  As a child in school, perhaps not near as far from the past as these young people, I had to memorize the poem "In Flander's Field". I stood by my desk reciting this poem, and understanding the depth of the sacrifice all those who laid in this field made. To this day, I still feel my eyes tear at the loss of lives, and the families who were changed forever, and the vision of those red poppies blowing. We were taught this poem, and along with it, the hope that never again would Canadians have to fight for their rights and freedoms.
  Well, we know there is still fighting, we know that rights and freedoms are such that battles will go on forever.. Those students, who apparently have either wonderful caring parents, who have dished out for their education, or, students who have loans, possible because we still live in a free country (thanks to those battles fought and won), think it is acceptable to take that which is universally known to be a symbol to the fallen in battle, and disturb and disrespect the one day a year, the Country honours them.
  Now, maybe this is news to some, but the White Poppy has been around for awhile. It appeared back in the 1930's , worn by women as  lasting symbol of peace and to an end of all wars. It didn't go over well back then, because it offended, and...surprise...times have not changed.
  Ignorant Canadian students, who were born beyond the ravages these great wars caused, beyond the cenotaphs with names of family and friends who never returned. Students who feel they no longer need to respect, because War is ugly, and peace is so much better. Maybe they feel they are better educated than those past, maybe they feel a white poppy will make everything wonderful, and war will stop? I hope they are not that stupid, if that was fact, Flander's field would be empty, there would be no crosses row on row, because we had smart people even back then, and every single person in the world would have placed a white poppy over their heart, if it would have stopped the past.
  See, what we must remember is the past! We cannot pretend it never happened, Our veterans, be it, from the "great" wars, or those which still go on today, get one day a year, in which we honour and respect them. That day is one in which we stand for a moments silence, and remember. Now young people remember new names, from the new wars, because people will continue to fight for rights and freedoms.
  Remembrance day is a sad day, it is not a day to attempt to push peace, peace can be pushed 364 other days of the year. This single day,the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, is for our veterans, it is the day of the Red Poppy, a day of Taps, one of flags, and uniforms and faces that show sorrow, at what has been lost, and most of all, a day of respect.
  So, to all those peaceful university students, who wish to flaunt white poppies, get your own frigging day! Just show some respect and leave Remembrance day to those who have earned their moment.

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