Something to Ponder

When I was 20, I wondered how our species determined that we were bigger and better than any other species of Mother Earth. Then I asked how we became so obsessed with power and money. It was the early 80s. World War II was still a very prominent memory of the global population. The Korean War and the war in Vietnam were the most recently ended wars, and on the horizon were the Falklands and, later still, Desert Storm and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Russia has moved on Ukraine, and there is unrest in Iran. Feudal wars are happening in Arabic countries. Have we not learned anything as a species?

I was an Air Cadet. I retired at the age of 19 and stayed on with my squadron as a civilian instructor and later became a commissioned officer. My career as a cadet brought me an awareness of the sacrifices our military personnel make to keep us safe and secure.

I volunteered for several years at The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, which, as the name implies, has on display and maintains several static collections and airworthy aircraft that served the Canadian Air Force over the decades of manned flight. It’s a fantastic place, and if you ever travel to Hamilton, Ontario, it’s worth the CAD 13.00 admission to see. You can’t touch them, but you can see them.

Their main attraction and the most significant investment for the museum is the Lancaster Bomber FM213. She was built to end the tyranny that loomed over Europe for many years and served Canada for many years afterward. She is a magnificent example of engineering and is one of only two remaining airworthy Lancaster bombers still flying. She was painted in the markings of KB726 VR-A in commemoration of Andrew Mynarski, a Canadian Airman who gave his life in the line of service aboard the original plane downed by enemy fire during the war. She is affectionately known as VeRA.

I get pretty emotional thinking about her. I think about the stupidity of war. The carnage, destruction, waste of life and lessons that go unlearned. How could humans, with our six higher mental faculties, think that wars can resolve anything? How is it that other species on Mother Earth coexist peaceably, and we humans, the most intelligent species on Mother Earth, cannot?

I keep asking myself, what is the purpose of war and who comes out ahead in the end? Who is the real victor? It’s certainly not the service men and women on either side. They place their lives on the line. They obediently go to foreign countries to fight wars that have no bearing on the country they are from for a purpose they might not be sure of. When they come back, many of them are wounded by bullets, maimed by bombs, and mentally messed up, if they return at all. They certainly do not benefit from wars. Often they are forgotten and left to fend for themselves. That’s unacceptable.

The civilians of the towns where the wars are fought do not benefit. Their homes are destroyed, their villages are left in ruins, their lives are upheaved, they are displaced, their income is cut off, and their survival depends greatly on foreign aid. How is that equitable?

To me, it’s the oligarchs. The bullet, bomb, war machine makers, and bankers who benefit. The pandering politicians, the oligarch's buddies who send these young men and women off to war-torn countries while living lavishly on the oligarch's campaign contributions, who win. The people who have the most money are always in the winning circle. The taxpayers are burdened with the bill for going to war.

We Canadians owe our service people a debt of epic proportions. How do you express gratitude to those of generations before us and to those who currently serve for keeping us safe here at home while they go forward to suppress tyranny? It saddens me greatly that humans have not, with our underdeveloped intellect, yet learned to stop killing for the sake of power and money.

When will we emerge from our blind, non-thinking, underdeveloped mentality? How long will it take us to see the human in each other and learn to tolerate our differences, accept our differing points of view, forgive each other for our mistakes, and love one another with all our capacity to love?

When we all finally shed our clothes and become human beings again.

The image isn't mine, but I have many of her on a broken hard drive. Credit to the person that shot it and posted it to Wiki.