Canada Day and pseudo warriors

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Canada Day 2005 found me jet-lagged after far too many hours without sleep and far too few hours of sleep, sitting on Calgary's version of Rome's and London's Metro/Underground system, thinking that this was the slowest possible train in Canada. After the rollicking speed of the metro trains in Italy and England, jet aircraft may be considered slow but, in this case, believe me, Calgary's LRT trains literally crawl by comparison. When a Roman metro train pulls into a station, everyone hangs on for dear life as the G forces deccelerate so quickly. When a Calgary LRT train leaves the station, it probably comes close to the above mentioned deccelerated speed. If a Calgarian transit driver moved to Rome, he'd probably have a heart attack the first day of work! If a Roman metro driver moved to Calgary, he'd probably have a siesta while working and still be on time.

Okay, enough bumpf,.

Seated in front of me on this ever so slow train was a young couple somewhere between the ages of 18 and 25. They were laughing, talking and generally enjoying the spirit of life en route to downtown Canada Day celebrations. Their voices were just loud enough that every word of the conversation could be heard and could not be tuned out. The young man was waxing poetic about a new computer game that he has been playing and really enjoying. Apparently, he is very good at it. It's a war game in which he blows up airplanes and helicopters, takes over bunkers, "kills" his opponents and sees the success of his missions in lists of the word "kill" down the side of the screen. He was acting out some of the various moves and strategies used with different weapons and appeared to be very proud of the name his cyberspace game buddies have given him, a name that celebrates his prowess in achieving his cyberkills and marks him as a wargame hero.

The longer he went on, the more the terminology and gestures of war were used, the angrier I became. I have spent the better part of a week visiting areas of France and Belgium that are dotted with the graves of real soldiers, young men for whom war was no game, young men who did not sit in the comfort of a warm room while counting up their kills, young men who did not become cyberstatistics for someone else's pseudo war, young men for whom, in the microcosmic split second between impact and death, the word "kill" had a very personal, final meaning. I wanted to take this young man and the young woman who was laughing and celebrating his warrior abilities and plop them into the middle of Tyne Cot, then into the underground tunnels in Vimy and the earth trenches of Beaumont Hammel, then over to the Thiepval monument to the 75,000 men whose graves have never been found, similar lists of names in Tyne Cot, the tiny cemeteries of Underhill and Lone Pine, the graves of Victoria Cross soldiers in Hyde Park Corner, to cemetery after cemetery, reading each man's headstone aloud, tallying up those "kills" who are "known only unto God." I wanted these two young people not to see war as a game we can celebrate and laugh and claim prowess in purely for entertainment. I wanted them to see each "kill" as a real person with a real name and a real family and real friends who mourned him and/or who died with him. I wanted them to taste, for one tiny moment, what their freedom to play warrior on Canada Day cost millions of people. But I could not. They would not have understood. The train reached my destination and I descended, unspoken words filling my mouth, unshed tears filling my eyes, and a deep sadness for the ignorance and vacuity of my culture filling my heart.

Margo

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Comments

[anonymous]

Spirit Above the Tombstones
Powerfully and eloquently stated, Margo! I just finished a course on Canada's National Security Policy (COMS 591 with Linda Goldenberg), and it's really brought to light the senselessness of the cycle of violence, the binary of victimized defender versus victimized assailant, and how both are one, given the underlying theme of violence. I truly believe that humankind, in the name of God, will come to a point in time in which violence will become a concept of the past. It will be a time, I believe, after or just before, or hopefully sonner than, the horrendous power of nuclear warfare and the like comes to its final manifestation. We were lucky to escape it during the Cold War due to Gorbachev's refusal to send oppressive military troops into Communist nations, a choice which ultimately caused the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was this nonaggressive act that caused the end of the Soviet Union and thus the finality of the Cold War. However, we may have learned the darkest lessons of violence had Gorbachev chose, instead, to send military into the communist nations. We are now heading for this political climate once again. We hadn't learned the lesson from the Cold War, since it seems to be a common and false notion that the Cold War ended due to increasing military might rather than the peace-seeking initiative of Gorbachev (Hellebust, 2005, lecture). Here are some quotes for you. I cited them in my final paper for Coms 591. I think I'd like to explore the topic further, as I think human conscience is moving into the direction of peace seeking while the world, particularly the Western world, is moving into a climate of greater violence. Here are some quotes: Quotes from “Words of Wisdom, Words of Compassion” The Dalai Lama stated “It may seem presumptuous on my part, but I personally believe we need to think seriously whether a violent reaction is the right thing to do and in the greater interest of the nation and people in the long run. I believe violence will only increase the cycle of violence. But how do we deal with hatred and anger which are often the root cause of such senseless violence? This is a very difficult question, especially when it concerns nations and we have certain fixed conceptions of how to deal with such attacks. I am sure you will make the right decision” (Words of Wisdom, Words of Compassion, http://www.e-grammes.gr/2003/03/Iraq_en.htm, 2005). Mahatma Ghandi stated “An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind” (Words of Wisdom, Words of Compassion, http://www.e-grammes.gr/2003/03/Iraq_en.htm, 2005). Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior, stated “The ultimate weakness of violence is that is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate…. Returning violence with violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out hate, only love can do that” (Words of Wisdom, Words of Compassion, http://www.e-grammes.gr/2003/03/Iraq_en.htm, 2005) The biggest motivators for the essay I wrote on the "senselessness of violence" come from Dr. David Swann, MLA and Activist, and, of course, the spiritual beauty of Kirby Thibeault. I think Kirby knows the solution to the increasing use of violent technologies, warfare for power mentalities, and political allegiances with and compliancy to agendas of warfare. He's the modern day Socrates... only better! I can support that statement too, if you are interested! : ) Margo, you writing and your thoughts provoke such intense feelings of humanity, spirituality, God, and liberation. May your convictions of humanity grow stronger in God with each passing moment! Love you, Margo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've read a lot of the book you gave me, beautiful soul, Margo! Thank you! With love and hugz, Susanne