For the week of November 13th, 1998

The Price of Freedom

I bet many didn't even bother pausing, and the ones who paused probably didn't want to, or thought it a waste of time. "What did they die for? And why should I care?"

I'm frightened by the prospect that everyone will forget about the First World War. WWII and the Vietnam War kind of overshadow the first war, and for somewhat of a good reason. Maybe it's because the Second World War had an actual enemy, more people died, and the horrific massacre of the Jewish people.

Vietnam overshadows it because the Americans are sore that they lost and most people who fought in it are bitter over the uselessness of the war. But WWI was just as useless, just as stupid, just as gruesome. The one thing it lacks is an enemy that is wholeheartedly responsible, for every country can be blamed for the war. All under the guise of freedom, the "good fight."

But enough about that. For all intents and purposes, those men died for a cause. No matter what the real reasons are, those who fell thought they were fighting for their country, for freedom, for the side of right. Yes, nowadays that is a load of bullshit larger than Everest, but to them, those things mattered, and that was that.

I saw something that scared me this week. A petition to create a law stating that on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, everyone has to stand and pause to reflect on the lost souls of WWI.

I see the meaning and intentions, they are all good, but something bothers me about this. Those lost souls we are reflecting on thought they were dying for freedom. Doesn't this impede on our freedom? Haven't we just crossed that line using those very soldiers as bait?

I understand the importance of reflecting on the dead, but if you are required to do so, the heart now isn't involved. It's the law - you follow the law - and that is one step closer to a re-creation of 1984 with Big Brother watching over all. How exactly do you enforce this law? Will traffic on every highway have to stop? Planes? What about doctors? See, there are many big gaps in this petition, and none I like.

Yes, Remembrance Day is a time for reflection and thanks that there are men who are willing to die for a cause they feel is just. But once laws are passed pressing us to do something (i.e. praying, kneeling, worshipping, etc.) you're destroying the very freedom that those men fought for.

Then maybe we should forget about reflecting on the war, because we haven't learned anything about it at all.

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