Remembering the past is what this post is about and on this November 11, 2023, I once again find myself thinking about wars past, wars present, and sadly, the wars to come. This year, in particular, there are two high profile wars going, one in Ukraine, and the other in Israel. It’s hard to read about, or to watch, but over the years, I’ve come to believe that we need to reflect on the horrors of war because we need to understand that it is something dreadful; something to be avoided at all costs; something to be engaged in only as a last resort. And when all else fails, to engage in with the understanding that it is awful and horrible that we may find an end as quickly as possible.
There’s an episode from the original Star Trek series called, “A Taste Of Armageddon.” In that episode, Kirk, and his team, beam down to the planet Eminiar VII, a planet that is supposedly at war. Except that there are no bombs, no missiles, and no bullets. What they encounter is a war fought by computers, a prescient metaphor for today’s remote-controlled drones and cyber warfare. Computers fight the war and those people who have been killed in the conflict willingly report to disintegration booths to be cleanly disposed of. This war has been going on for ages, but because it is so clean and tidy, people have forgotten about the horrors of war, and so the war persists.
That’s what the words “Lest We Forget” are all about.
This sanitized, distant form of conflict, while reducing immediate human costs, also distances us from war’s brutal realities. In our non-Star Trek world, advances in AI and robotics in military applications have further blurred the lines, raising ethical questions about the future of warfare.
Globally, conflicts continue to rage, differing in scale and impact, yet each carrying the same message of loss and despair. From the streets of Syria, to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to the war in Israel, the specter of war remains a stark reality, challenging our notions of progress and humanity. That particular horseman is always with us.
War in the 21st century, at least for those of us living in North America, has become far too sanitized. We watch remote controlled drones surgically neutralizing enemy targets from thousands of miles away. Sure, we see clips on social media, but that stuff is all far away. And while our men and women die in foreign conflicts few of us actually understand, our politicians want to isolate us from the horrors those men and women actually face. In 2006, Stephen Harper, Canada’s Prime Minister, sought to ban the media from displaying images of flag-draped coffins as dead soldiers returned home.
Lest We Forget…
In North America, our understanding of war has been predominantly shaped by our experiences in the World Wars. The end of WWII in 1945 marked not just a victory but a staggering loss of life – 68 million people, including over 40 million civilians. The contributions of various nations, often overshadowed by the narratives of major powers, deserve recognition. The Canadians at Dieppe, the Soviets at Auschwitz – each played a crucial role. The Holocaust, an unfathomable tragedy, stands as a testament to the depths of human cruelty, claiming nearly 6 million Jewish lives.
Take a moment to check out Lest We Forget…
