Motivated Motion

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

RESPECT, PEACE, WAR, LOVE- A LESSON IN UNDERSTANDING

Four years ago, if someone was to state that Lynn would be writing a pro war piece, I would have tore their ears off and planted them up their nose.
You see I think of myself as the lioness protecting her Pride when I am on the defensive.
A little too Type A personality for most to handle.

“ I’s gots my principles and I will fight for them!”

I have learned in my older age that principles are dynamic.
(Oh dynamic is one of my buzzwords if you haven’t figured that out yet. I love it and hate the word paradigm) Principles must change for we must learn.

It seems that I learn more at this age than I did when I was younger. Or, maybe I just ignore less as I get older.

This past Sunday was Carl’s graduation from Basic Military Training.
Oh so what? People will ask. Many others have done that!

I look them directly in the eye and say, “Yeah, but almost none does it in his 49th year.”

It became apparent to me that Carl was interested in the Canadian Military Reserves when my Son finished his own BMQ.
I have been excited for both of them since they each decided that the Reserves are for them.

I, myself don’t like war, and I really had to look at idea of them being in the military with very clear eyes. I was worried that I would not be able to get past the fog of my own beliefs to see what attraction the Reserves meant to my Husband and Son.

I watched them both…..My nerdy, superfluous intellectual, introverted, digitized thinkers. And I needed to understand what part of them wanted this so bad.
I know now that it is the phrase personal challenge that best describes the honey that attracts the bee to the uniform.

These two men have always been able to go into their mind and accomplish their day to day routine. A life of statistics and numbers and pattern and code.
Why oh why would going out on weekends and being brutalised and demoralised and dirty and smelly and hurting in pain and worried and frustrated be something they longed for?

The simple answer, because they can.
It is the greatest accomplishment ever for the intellectual introvert to go deep into the Man and draw out the Beast.
You only make it through Basic Training if you are successful drawing out the Beast when it is necessary.

And with the Beast come the dreams once more.
A revitalisation of the Man.

Here is a salute to The Beasts.

I finally know where their minds are at.
It is easy for me to raise up my beast. It is hard for them.

But know this:
Put me in the place where my beast is taken away and then I have to find it again…. And I would never make it.

It is through them I began to understand the phrase that becomes key to every family when they lose a loved one fighting a war. “They died doing what they believed in and what they loved to do.”
It is not just about finding the Beast.
It is about using the Beast to make a difference.
A measured display of how much they believe in BEING, and being Canadian.

Strong, Proud
There and Helping
Moving into the crevasses hidden within the front lines
Waiting to aid.
Aiding to help.

Helping because that is what Canadians do.

I know that not all of our friends and family are happy about the green Alex and Carl wear.
Everyone has their own reasons for the choices they make.

I have learned that Canada’s presence in war is necessary.
Many regular people would never survive without the Canadians.
Just because others choose the first steps into war, it doesn’t mean Canada can choose to turn their head away from the humans in need.
Remember the word HUMANITY?
A Country that works so hard for balance and equality for its people; Canada has to allow that equality to touch all nations in need.

I empathise with those who have first hand experiences and repercussions of a nation at war.
I do know the word CONFLICT too.

I can tell you I am very proud of my Men.
They showed me a path around conflict that I never knew.
I realise that each of those men in uniform represent us.
In Canada they make an informed choice, and are drawn from a very tiny pool of volunteers.
The Reservists join first to protect Canadians at home, and second to protect the weak abroad.
A completely unselfish act.

Not so for some countries for which conscription, of each teen, is dangling the Education carrot on a stick over them for control. An idea of eligible means just an age number and not a qualification of understanding. And mothers are stripped of their children, and passives are forced into an engagement with a gun so the Army can show numbers because losses are too great.

To my friends in Germany I will send you this hug of understanding:

When you see the uniform worn with pride
It creates your hurt that aches inside
I know that collective with emotion, not pride
You bend your heads low in disgust

I understand that you need your life without guns.

And I respect that you vow that to repeat the past just won’t do.
I know you want us to learn a lesson from yesterday’s past and not create today’s pain

I hear your message clear and loud
I know of fascism you are not proud.

I hope that now in my contemporary mind
I can do you justice too.

I beg your understanding to hear what I have learned

I know that war is not just

And I don’t want suffering when it seems such a must

I see troops fight and I see children run
I am not blind to these acts

…..But I have come to understand that the world is not well run

And someone has to make peace.

Once the peace keeper and now a peace maker
The line is so blurred at times

Canada comes in to aid and to protect
…..Still with weapons upon their shoulder
Soldiers One, Two, Three…

They see ills and travesty that no human should experience
They give their lives to aid

And the question still
Who dares create war, who dares!?

As the dead are recited at role call
No man wants to listen, but listen they must

The world’s rules are not equal
And as long as they are not

The PeaceKeeper will become The PeaceMaker.