Quote of the Moment

"Those who desire to treat politics and morals apart from one another will never understand either." - Rosseau


Thursday, July 21, 2011

Towards Others

I was reading an article this week in the July/August edition of Fast Company magazine, the topic of which was Matt Damon’s foundation Water.org, and the subsequent conversations that reveal much of the good that Damon does. Within the text Gary White, his partner in the foundation and expert on water delivery for developing nations, was also interviewed.  
Both men were shown as being passionate for their cause, as well as having character that at once both shames and offers hope for the reader; the former for a lack of personal action, the latter for realizing there is much that can be contributed, whatever the cause. What really struck me was the level of involved compassion these men had for the very cause they were championing. That they could engage people that others might see as statistics with a smile and a rational way forward is magnanimous, fostering a greater sense of community for those they were helping along the way. But they also sympathized with those who they were helping on a level that should act as an example for humanity.  
They aimed to help people who were racially, culturally and socially different from them with an understanding that, in the end, there was more common between them than there was alien. I think that’s lacking in society and is evident for one simplistic reason: tragedies continue with nothing done. It’s not a difficult thing to see once you remove yourself from whatever has distracted you; be it the playoffs (pick a sport), Big Brother, partying, the gravitational pull of your own life, family obligations, relationships or whatever else. There’s a whole world of people who need help. Hell, that can be reduced even further to say there’s a whole country, province, city, area within a city or family that needs help.
That segments of our society in Canada, or our neighbours in the global community, might be left out is one of the greatest tragedies of humanity. That disease, poverty, starvation and death by thirst is looked at but not touched is a shame. That rape, military attacks and shelling of civilians, murder and human-trafficking is denounced in the media with little more than a firm wag of the finger and lip-service from world leaders is embarrassing. To be sure not everything is perfect, and some of the issues just mentioned possess a great deal of complex obstacles that need to be negotiated.
In the end, what I took from the article was a fresh perspective on the human condition, the possibilities for helping others as well as the essential need to do so. The concept that resonated within me the most was a quote that was mentioned:
“Your life should be about finding the intersection of the world’s greatest need and your greatest passion.” Beautiful.   
It’s not that a lack of such perspective indicates an individual carries any less compassion for others, but I think with the distractions life can throw at us, we tend to forget and ignore the plight of others. We’ve misplaced our sense of humanity, and it seems that it’s only those who are truly engulfed in tragedy and forced humility that are able to identify anything beyond the vanilla-life. Doubt this? Find some images of any one of the millions affected by drought and famine in East Africa, the wear on their souls is visible in their face.

While I’m a big believer in the virtues of altruism, I also understand the reality that not everyone shares that ideology. But we should find a greater balance in our lives for others, whether their need is at the local, national or global level. We must.


Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Thank You...How Can We Help?

When it comes to honouring our military, the standard lines which seem to reverberate within our national psyche are “Lest we Forget” and “They’re fighting for our freedom.” As important and genuine as they are, both phrases fail when it comes to our current bunch of combat veterans.
“Lest we Forget” generally refers to the fallen, to those who made the supreme sacrifice in laying themselves down for their nation and, more importantly, for their comrades. It’s also a phrase that is very much married with the First and Second World Wars, though it is still a deserving pledge for those who gave their lives in Afghanistan.
As for “They’re fighting for our freedom,” frankly Canadian soldiers have never truly fought for our freedom. The wars we’ve been involved in as a nation have leaned towards the freedom of other nation’s citizens. The Boer War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War and now Afghanistan, as well as the peacekeeping deployments Canada has volunteered into have all been on foreign soil, essentially for foreign citizens. Unless the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 leads to altered re-enactments by some rogue American militia, then it will have been quite some time since the North of the Americas was ever truly threatened.
With the Canadian military withdrawing combat forces from Afghanistan, we need to find ourselves a new expression to honour the courage and sacrifice of those who are coming home. While “Lest we Forget” is a sincere token for the fallen, it does little for the living because we DO forget, as well as ignore. The other line isn’t applicable, so let’s scrub that in general please. What we need as a nation is a way to bring these men and women back into the flock, a means of telling them we’re proud, offering heart-felt thanks for bearing the burden of fighting, killing and losing friends, and then reaching out a hand for each and every combat solider and military staff.




Having said that, “thank you...how can we help?” is a great start for our country to take. In the study On Killing, it is stated that “Societies have always recognized that war changes men, that they are not the same after they return. That is why primitive societies often require soldiers to perform purification rites before allowing them to rejoin their communities.” It is further stated that such rituals allow soldiers to rid themselves of the stress and guilt associated with combat (especially related to the act of killing), and that “...above all, his community of sane and normal men welcomed him back.”
This is why thanking our soldiers and offering our support as a nation, as communities, and as individuals is so essential. We need to reassure them that what they did WAS right, regardless of our moral stances on war, killing, the counterinsurgency programs, Afghan politics, the Taliban or anything else. I would like to see parades for our veterans of Afghanistan, nationally as well as at the local level. It’s all well and good that we honour the fallen with the Highway of Heroes, but what of the living who must re-enter a society that knows little of what they were exposed to, or what they struggle with mentally, emotionally and physically. If we fail to honour our soldiers, to reach out a hand of support and help to our warriors who have guarded Canada’s values, then we will have shamed ourselves; the brave who have stood on guard for thee deserve a nation willing to do the same for them.