Whatever you’re doing today, wherever you are, take a few private moments to think about all that our soldiers have done for us for many, many, many years . . .
Whatever you’re doing today, wherever you are, take a few private moments to think about all that our soldiers have done for us for many, many, many years . . .
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
Another good crowd at Old City Hall in Toronto today, however two people were taken away separately: a yelling woman was bundled up and whisked off by various military personnel (I think she yelled “Shame on the government!” at one point), and about 10 minutes later a man with his arms pinned behind his back was led off while Mayor Rob Ford was speaking – not sure if the timing was coincident or not.
Lots of vets of all ages with chests full of medals, and lots of people stopping to shake their hands and thank them for their service.
Remember the soldiers and all who served. Everyone wants to live in peace, it is just how we achieve that is different . . .
On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs – Dave Grossman
By LTC (RET) Dave Grossman, author of “On Killing.
One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:
“Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident.” This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.
Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.
I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin’s egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful.? For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.
“Then there are the wolves,” the old war veteran said, “and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy.” Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.
“Then there are sheepdogs,” he went on, “and I’m a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf.”
If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed
Let me expand on this old soldier’s excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids’ schools.
But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid’s school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep’s only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.
Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn’t tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, “Baa.”
Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.
The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.
Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?
Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones.
Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, “Thank God I wasn’t on one of those planes.” The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, “Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference.” When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.
There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population. There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.
Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I’m proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.
Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, “Let’s roll,” which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers – athletes, business people and parents. — from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.
There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. – Edmund Burke
Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn’t have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.
If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior’s path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.
For example, many officers carry their weapons in church.? They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs.? Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.
I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, “I will never be caught without my gun in church.” I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy’s body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?”
Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for “heads to roll” if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids’ school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them.
Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, “Do you have and idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?”
It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up.
Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn’t bring your gun, you didn’t train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear helplessness and horror at your moment of truth.
Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: “…denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn’t so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling.”
Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level.
And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be “on” 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself…
“Baa.”
This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.
“Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident.” This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.
Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.
I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin’s egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful.? For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.
“Then there are the wolves,” the old war veteran said, “and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy.” Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.
“Then there are sheepdogs,” he went on, “and I’m a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf.”
If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed
Let me expand on this old soldier’s excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids’ schools.
But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid’s school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep’s only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.
Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn’t tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, “Baa.”
Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.
The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.
Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?
Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones.
Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, “Thank God I wasn’t on one of those planes.” The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, “Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference.” When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.
There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population. There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.
Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I’m proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.
Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, “Let’s roll,” which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers – athletes, business people and parents. — from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.
There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. – Edmund Burke
Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn’t have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.
If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior’s path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.
For example, many officers carry their weapons in church.? They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs.? Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.
I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, “I will never be caught without my gun in church.” I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy’s body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?”
Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for “heads to roll” if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids’ school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them.
Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, “Do you have and idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?”
It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up.
Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn’t bring your gun, you didn’t train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear helplessness and horror at your moment of truth.
Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: “…denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn’t so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling.”
Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level.
And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be “on” 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself…
“Baa.”
This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.
Fred,
It was nice of your publish your book here on SDA, but after summarizing it by skimming through what sometimes feels like a ‘shaggy dog story’, I believe you could have summed up your point in a paragraph or two.
So ….. if you want others to read that book length comment, you will need to inject some sex or perhaps an exciting car chase.
Sorry, I just will not read comments that last longer than my ability to remain awake,
I did get and like you point though, Woof Woof!
Something to listen to while you remember:
Brothers In Arms
Fred,
Superb article.
“They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”
;tldr
Longest comment evaaaar. There has got to be some sort of SDA award for that. It’s probably well written I need to go out and buy a new high capacity hard drive, to save and read it later in retirement when I have a little more time.
Taking my 13 year old daughter to Remembrance Day ceremony in 30 minutes.
It is up to us to make sure the next generation never forgets what our soldiers have done, are doing and will do to keep us free.
Just got back from the local ceremony. I always try to go. A lot of young people there, which is good to see.
Soozbc >
“It is up to us to make sure the next generation never forgets…”
Try walking into a Mosque and teaching them that.
At current Third World immigration levels, there will be no question about “Remembrance” in the future. The racial complexion of the current Canadian military and the returning dead reflects that fact. In no way is the military, the defence of our nation in balance with current non European demographic percentages. A billboard sized sign of changing times.
Of course many things will be a distant memory in Canada’s future. An example will be health care; again thanks to the importation of Third World “professionals” who are allowed to bring in their aged extended family members. At times 4 aged parents or grandparents per immigrated couple many with serious health problems who have never or will ever contribute into the system. Who long can it all last?
Watched the CBC coverage of the ceremony in Ottawa. I think Mr. Robertson needs to retire. There were many comments that were inappropriate, for example “Some say that the increase in attendance at ceremonies is a sign of the increasing militarization of Canada”.
I half expected a comment about “Soldiers… in the streets… with guns” while the veterans parade was going on.
The paradox of a benevolent Jesus gently cradling a lamb in his arms comes to mind. It’s just a matter of when – not if the sheep gets sheared and then ends up in a stew pot. IOW Jesus has an agenda.
Sheep don’t write the menu, they’re on it.
No disruptions here in Vancouver. Thank goodness!
Just back from the ceremony at Museum of the Regiments in Calgary — a big crowd, and many ethnic minorities represented in the crowd and in the uniformed members and in the cadet corps — really good to see. Still haven’t seen anyone in the crowd wearing a hijab yet. Did I miss something?
Fred,
A great article, but maybe a link would have been more appropriate.
Just got in from the Armistice Day Service here in White Rock. A turnout of probably a 1000 people. It was encouraging to see young parents with their tots in tow. As well, a lot of young people along with many ex-servicepeople.
And, a really nice fly-by by some aircraft from Delta (probably Harvard Trainers).
And, the best part, we got it all in between the rain (which had just stopped) and the wind (which is just beginning).
Good deal all around.
just back from a fine ceremony in Cochrane. took one of my sons and one of my grandsons. well attended and has a nice parade all the way down the hill to the cenotaph.
Jack Tennant of the Cochrane Eagle was the MC and always does things well.
Everyone was represented from Cubs and Beaver thru Army Cadets, younger Vets, some British Reg Forces, a very active Legion , KOC, cowboy poets and as always the Old Vets ,their ranks much diminished through the years.
Well done Cochrane!!!!
It may be slightly off, but the quotation under a mural in Widener Library at Harvard has always seemed to symbolize World War I for me: “Happy those who with a glowing faith/in one embrace gained death and victory”
Knight99 – with all due respect, what should I do? Shrug my shoulders and skip the ceremony next Nov 11 because it’s a lost cause and in 30 years no one will want to remember?
No sir. I will be there next year, and the year after that and so on, in the rain, in the wind, with my daughter next to me, remembering.
And judging by the large crowd this year of famiiies, there are other parents out there thinking the same thing.
Went to the Nutana Legion in Saskatoon for lunch and to check out the museum in the basement.
It’s very good, and the airforce side is run by a vet who flew 30 missions as a nose gunner in Lancasters.
He pointed out lots of stuff, the old log books showing where the missions went, how many planes on them, how many didn’t come back.
If you get a chance it’s worth seeing.
Louise,
I just attended the Nanaimo ceremony. There was a huge turnout and I noted a lot of young people too. It was pleasing to see.
There was an Occupy camp a couple of blocks away, but those twits knew better than to try to disrupt the event. I am probably no the only one there that was prepared to dispatch any attempt.
Weather was great too, although right after we had a big hail storm.
8,600 people at the SaskPlace service in Saskatoon.
We had a terrific “service” in the school I was in today, very respectful, very solemn, the kids very attentive. There was a slide show, ending with the song Highway of Heroes by the Trews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
Chorus:
Carry me home down The Highway of Heroes.
People above with their flags flying low.
Carry me softly, down The Highway of Heroes.
True Patriot Love,
There was never more.
I’ve noticed that since the Conservatives took power, there’s been a resurgence in respect for our military and the great sacrifices they make and have made to keep Canada “the True North strong and free.” I’m so grateful to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government for their support of our military and for resurrecting an interest in our young people in hearing the stories of our veterans’ experiences in WWI and WWII.
Here’s another, and possibly better, video of the Highway of Heroes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsCVlM1CSPU&feature=grec_index
At the risk posting too lengthy a comment, I would like to post a few paragraphs of preliminary translations I am doing of parts of paragraphs of a book my second cousin in Germany wrote about the memories of his mother, my dad’s cousin, when their farm near Orenburg was expropriated.
The above is why we, sheep and sheep dogs, need to be or should be vigilant and prepared to put a uniform on when necessary.
“Our father was not at home then, as on March 27th, 1930, he, A. H. and G. B. were arrested and sentenced to five years in a labour camp and sent into the high north where they suffered for four years. A. V. had already been arrested in the autumn 1929. The other five were at home when the expropriation of their property took place.
Everything was taken away from us, the cattle from the stable up to the last chicken, all the farm machinery, furniture, bed linen, table-ware, dresses and shoes, everything except what we had on our bodies. We were allowed to keep a dish, a spoon, a fork, a knife and a cup, as well as a pot, pan and a large dish for the family. We were also allowed to keep a pillow, a cover and a sheet. Our mother sat on a chair and could say nothing, when everything was listed and carried out. We children were so shocked that we could not even cry. Our brother J., who was 18 years old, could not restrain himself and attacked one of the officials and was arrested because he had resisted and taken to Kitschkas. When our mother, who was well pregnant, saw this she fainted and we carried her to bed and brought her some water to drink.
Everything that the authorities carried out was packed on the wagons and taken to the sales shop in our village. The cattle and farm equipment was handed over to the Kolchos.
We were allowed to stay in our house, although the house was nearly empty. The horse stalls in the barn were rebuilt to hold cattle. The expropriated cattle that had belonged to the neighbours were held in the rebuilt horse stalls. Because each family was only allowed to keep one cow, one pig and up to 10 chickens, the rest had to be turned over to the Kolchos. Some farmers tried to slaughter or sell their cattle before they were confiscated, but the authorities were to smart and forced them to bring their remaining cattle to the Kolchos.
It was a bad time for the expropriated families. We had to work, but could not not eat together with the others who had a kitchen furnished for them. At home, we had only what other people brought us in secret. The work with the cattle in the winter and in the fields in the summer was hard. I was still very young and did not need to work so hard, but my sister T. worked with the cattle and milked the cows. In addition, she worked in the fields in summer and during harvest it was particularly difficult. She told us, when the other girls got their lunch break in the kitchen, then she and T. B. had to go milk the cows. When they returned, the lunch break was over and they had to join the threshing crew. They also had to milk the cows early in the morning and late in the evening. Everyone had to work hard. Some large barns, including ours, were dismantled from the houses and used to build a new cattle barn. The A. V. family was driven out of their house in the autumn 1929, as the new Prawlenije Kolchos and the village Selskij Soviet authority in the village needed an administration building. The large new stable housed the cows and the small calves.
On the farm land there were also big changes, as the borders between the small fields of each farmer were ploughed up and large fields created. In the village, a Kolchos was created and divided into two brigades. Each brigade got its share of the land, equipment, cattle and workers. The farmers east of the bridge were the first brigade and west of the bridge were the second brigade.
The churches were closed by the government in 1930 since they could no longer pay the ever increasing taxes that were deliberately imposed to force the churches to go bankrupt. Then the state came and closed the church and later expropriated it.”
The above is why the tears came a number of times this morning and do every year while watching the services. This is also why I put the uniform on, on a reserve basis, serving and supplementary, for thirty-one years.
More than serving as guard dogs, the men and women in the service are, as Tom Woofe put it, “. required to be sentinels at the bacchanal …”, that is, they forego the luxuries of civilian life – freedom, better pay, a softer and easier life – to protect us.
May God bless them all.
Ken ( Kulak ) – Thanks for the reminder of why the sacrifices of the servicemen and women who protect us are so dear.
Most of all, thank you for your service. God bless.
That ordinary men could do extraordinary things and not seek praise.
Truly the best of us.
God bless you, Ken (Kulak) and your family. We need to hear these stories over and over again in order to understand what tyranny looks like — and to resist it with every fibre of our being.
Two comments on this important day. First, I woke up to a CKNW advertisement by the BC Nurses Union, thanking our Servicemen for protecting public healthcare. I thought it disgusting that they would use this day and their selfless service to further their own political cause.
Secondly I had the pleasure of taking my grandson to his first Rememberance Day ceremony. I showed him pictures of my Uncle who as a Lancaster bombardier, lost his life over France. I was able to point to some of the aging vets and tell him that had he lived, his great-uncle would be as old as they – but instead we will always remember him as the handsome, smiling young airman in the photograph I had shown him.
“hey shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old”.
And to Abe Froman – we are fellow Nanaimoites and it is nice to know their are other conservative minded folk in this old union town.
soozbc >
“I will be there next year…”
Yup, I know and was not suggesting you do not. My comment was tongue in cheek and not personal in any way, shape, or form. I simply “spring boarded” off your comment to highlight the fact that our culture is dying with our veterans.