A while ago, I visited the National War Museum in Ottawa. I was haunted by some of the paintings.
Remembrance Day is a solemn event here in Canada. It has been said by historians that the Great War, and the battle for Vimy Ridge in particular, marked our maturity as a country. The formality of the 1867 Confederation was dry document, but those Canadians who went over the top in the battle of Vimy Ridge welded us together in spirit. In a very few days, 3,800 Canadians died to take that ridge, in the largest barrage of artillery recorded in history to that time. Over one million shells were launched. We regard it as such a victory that they took over 20,000 German lives in the battle and many thousand as prisoners. Yet those young Germans never had any ill will toward this country 6,000 km away. In fact, many of their own countrymen had become Canadian residents and citizens just a few years before. The Germand boys too were lured into battle by the ambition to serve God and country.
In my heart, I do not see any glory in that war, just a tragic lesson of how power corrupts.
This huge mural at the museum shows what horror befell the tranquil meadows of Passchendaele. It became a fetid swamp of corpses, rats and exploded shells. Over one million perished in this long running battle.
I think it would be wise for any person who advocates war as a strategy for securing resources to vist this museum. It will, hopefully, change your mind.
