British newspaper salutes Canada ...this is a good read. It is funny how it took someone in England to put it into
words......Salute to a brave and modest nation
-
words......Salute to a brave and modest nation
-
Kevin Myers , 'The Sunday Telegraph' LONDON :November 2013.
Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan , probably almost no one outside their home country had been
aware that Canadian troops are deployed in the
region.
And as always, Canada will bury its dead, just as the rest of the
world, as always will forget its sacrifice, just as it
always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does. It
seems that Canada 's historic mission is to come to
the selfless aid both of its friends and of complete
strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be
well and truly ignored.
Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the
hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a
dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to
rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious
injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the
dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower
still, while those she once helped glamorously cavort
across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet
again.
That is the price Canada pays for sharing the North American continent with the United States , and for being a selfless
friend of Britain in two global conflicts.
For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions:
It seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an
address in the new one, and that divided identity
ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it
deserved.
Yet it's purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy.
Almost 10% of Canada 's entire population of seven
million people served in the armed forces during the
First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great
Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian
troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the
entire British order of battle.
Canada was repaid for its enormous
sacrifice by downright neglect, it's unique
contribution to victory being absorbed into the
popular memory as somehow or other the work of the
'British.'
The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing
nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack.
More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the
Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian
soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone.
Canada finished the war with the third-largest navy and the fourth largest air force in the world. The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time.
Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a
campaign in which the United States had clearly not
participated - a touching scrupulousness which, of
course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has any
notion of a separate Canadian identity.
So it is a general rule that actors and
filmmakers arriving in Hollywood keep their
nationality - unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus
Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland,
Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David
Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter, Mike Weir and
Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become
American, and Christopher Plummer, British.
It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakeably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.
Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of
themselves - and are unheard by anyone else - that 1%
of the world's population has provided 10% of the
world's peacekeeping
forces.
Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan , probably almost no one outside their home country had been
aware that Canadian troops are deployed in the
region.
And as always, Canada will bury its dead, just as the rest of the
world, as always will forget its sacrifice, just as it
always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does. It
seems that Canada 's historic mission is to come to
the selfless aid both of its friends and of complete
strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be
well and truly ignored.
Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the
hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a
dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to
rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious
injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the
dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower
still, while those she once helped glamorously cavort
across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet
again.
That is the price Canada pays for sharing the North American continent with the United States , and for being a selfless
friend of Britain in two global conflicts.
For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions:
It seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an
address in the new one, and that divided identity
ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it
deserved.
Yet it's purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy.
Almost 10% of Canada 's entire population of seven
million people served in the armed forces during the
First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great
Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian
troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the
entire British order of battle.
Canada was repaid for its enormous
sacrifice by downright neglect, it's unique
contribution to victory being absorbed into the
popular memory as somehow or other the work of the
'British.'
The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing
nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack.
More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the
Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian
soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone.
Canada finished the war with the third-largest navy and the fourth largest air force in the world. The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time.
Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a
campaign in which the United States had clearly not
participated - a touching scrupulousness which, of
course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has any
notion of a separate Canadian identity.
So it is a general rule that actors and
filmmakers arriving in Hollywood keep their
nationality - unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus
Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland,
Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David
Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter, Mike Weir and
Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become
American, and Christopher Plummer, British.
It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakeably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.
Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of
themselves - and are unheard by anyone else - that 1%
of the world's population has provided 10% of the
world's peacekeeping
forces.
Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest
peacekeepers on Earth - in 39 missions on UN mandates,
and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from Vietnam to
East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.Yet the only
foreign engagement that has entered the popular
non-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in
Somalia , in which out-of-control paratroopers
murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was
then disbanded in disgrace - a uniquely Canadian act
of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians
received no international credit. So who today in
the United States knows about the stoic and selfless
friendship its northern neighbor has given it in
Afghanistan ?Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac , Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians
should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost.
This past year (2013) more grieving Canadian
families knew that cost all too tragically
well.
peacekeepers on Earth - in 39 missions on UN mandates,
and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from Vietnam to
East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.Yet the only
foreign engagement that has entered the popular
non-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in
Somalia , in which out-of-control paratroopers
murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was
then disbanded in disgrace - a uniquely Canadian act
of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians
received no international credit. So who today in
the United States knows about the stoic and selfless
friendship its northern neighbor has given it in
Afghanistan ?Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac , Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians
should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost.
This past year (2013) more grieving Canadian
families knew that cost all too tragically
well.
Lest we forget.
Please pass
this on to any of your friends or relatives who served
in the Canadian Forces or anyone who is proud to be
Canadian; it is a wonderful tribute to those who
choose to serve their country and the world in our
quiet Canadian way.
this on to any of your friends or relatives who served
in the Canadian Forces or anyone who is proud to be
Canadian; it is a wonderful tribute to those who
choose to serve their country and the world in our
quiet Canadian way.
