HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2015-11-11, Page 44 News Record • Wednesday, November 11, 2015
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www.clintonnewsrecord.com
Stop celebrating Remembrance Day
We need to stop celebrating
Remembrance Day.
Understand me well: We
must keep Remembrance
Day. The operative words are
"stop celebrating." Remem-
bering violence in this world
does not call for celebration.
Having been born at the
end of the Second World War
in the Netherlands, I do not
remember the atrocities of
war from firsthand experi-
ence. However I would like to
reflect on feelings about vio-
lence in the world I have
experienced over my lifetime
on three continents: Europe,
NorthAmerica and Africa.
I remember the postwar in
Europe and the hatred of the
Dutch people toward the Ger-
man oppressors. When, at the
age of 16, I wanted to go for a
holiday to Germany, my
father sternly forbade me to
go, reminding me of the
oppression the Dutch people
had experienced during the
war. Fortunately I talked my
father into letting me go. I had
the opportunity to meet the
German people in their ordi-
nary lives and experienced
them as people.
For the Dutch people, May
4 is a sombre Remembrance
Day, while on May5 there is a
great celebration of Liberation
Day when we show our great
thanks to the allied forces, and
in particular the nation of
Canada through which we
regained our freedom
Coming from a different
culture, it seemed strange to
me at first that Remembrance
Day is celebrated on Nov 11
in Canada, but it made sense
after I read Canadian history.
In Canada, we also have a Lib-
eration Day, on May 9, three
days after the capitulation of
Germany, but very much less
celebrated.
On May 5, 1945, a Globe
and Mail headline reported,
"Carnival of joy loosed as
Toronto celebrates European
victory news." Embedded in
the article was a paragraph
titled "Victory at great price:'
The reporter writes, "What
showed on the surface of a
city's reaction was the letting
off of steam. Beneath the gay-
ety and the demonstration
was the hidden grief mixed
with pride in the realization in
thousands of homes that
those who would never come
back home had helped to
bring about the day of
victory:'
For many Canadian fami-
lies, victory is that mixture of
celebration and grief.
The first time I visited
Rwanda inAfricain 2006, on a
church mission, my part in
that mission was to speak and
teach on forgiveness and rec-
onciliation. One begins to
understand the great diffi-
culty of forgiveness in relation
to the 1994 genocide when
realizing more than 800,000
people lost their lives in just
100 days.
In one church, a woman
came to me after the talk and
said, "I want you to pray for
me because I have to forgive
the man who murdered my
family:' Iwas shocked afterwe
prayed because she walked to
the back of the church, and
there was the man. She
started talking to him, and
after some time they
embraced each other in what
surely was repentance
expressed and forgiveness
given.
The significance of it all is
that these people —perpetra-
tor and victim — not only
lived in the same village but
also worshipped in the same
church.
Every country in the world
experiences Remembrance
Day in a different way.
In the Netherlands after
Victory Day, the oppressors
went home and the country
began to rebuild.
In Canada, we remember
those who made the great
sacrifice and never returned
home, the difference being
that, for Canada during the
war, there was recession and
great sacrifice but no oppres-
sion, and no oppressors to go
home in the aftermath.
In Rwanda, the victims of
oppression have to live
together with those who
oppressed them in the same
country, even in the same vil-
lages and churches. For the
woman who asked for prayer
to forgive her oppressor, I
would observe that liberation
day came for her and the
oppressor on the day he was
able to repent and she was
able to forgive.
In the Gospel according to
St Luke, Jesus says to us, "I say
to you, love your enemies, do
good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat
you:'
Humanity seems to have
an innate propensity for
violence. Loving one's enemy
appears nearly impossible,
but only love is capable of
forgiveness.
We need to stop celebrating
Remembrance Day as a day
of victory and a ritual of war
that demands unity. We need
to take care of our soldiers as
the victims of the human will
to violence. That's the least
they deserve. But they also
deserve for us to stop roman-
ticizing war; otherwise we
doom them, and ourselves to
endless war
In today's reign of violence,
continued war will lead only
to the destruction of
humanity.
On Remembrance Day, we
must remember not only our
own who lost their lives, but
all who lost their lives to vio-
lence, friend and foe alike.
Only by remembering the
grief caused by the atrocities
and loss of life in war on both
sides can we be led to love of
enemy and forgiveness.
On Nov 11, let us in sombre
ritual observe Remembrance
Day, leading to celebration of
the freedom we enjoy.
Rev. Canon Tony W. Bouw-
meester is a retired Anglican
pastor living in Port Rowan.
You catch more flies with honey
Last week I
received an
upsetting phone call.
Immediately I was
accosted with the accusa-
tion that I didn't know
what I was doing because
I had missed an important
story involving Clinton in
the Nov 4 issue of the
paper.
Here at the News Record
we not only accept con-
structive criticism, we wel-
come it. This is, after all,
your newspaper. I
Column
Laura Broadley
explained this to the caller
but they said I "didn't
deserve" constructive criti-
cism because everyone
hated what I was doing.
The caller went on to say
that other media outlets
doing a much better job
than I do. While I don't
believe that is true in every
instance, there is some
validity to that statement. I
am a one-person news-
room competing against
other publications with
multiple reporters. I do my
best but I am the first to say
I am not always successful
in that pursuit.
If there is something you
don't like or think we're
not covering - let us know.
With quick turnaround in
employees I don't always
knowwhat is going on or
important to the people in
this tight -knit community.
I can be reached at clinton.
reporter@sunmedia.ca or
via phone at 519-482-3443
extension 527302.
I had to end the phone
call because this con-
cerned citizen decided to
personally insult me,
which I don't feel is some-
thing I should have to put
up with.
But I want to end this
on a better note. Since
taking over as reporter at
the Clinton News Record
seven months ago, I have
received an overwhelm-
ingly positive response
from the kind, thoughtful
and welcoming people
that live here.
It's hard to walk into
events and talk about
issues that affect people I
have only just gotten to
know but I am happy and
proud to call Clinton my
home and you, the read-
ers, my neighbours.
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