| If you’re thinking of moving to Canada, we can help you. A dozen Canadian bloggers from coast to coast have started a new group blog called Moving to Canada, Eh? It will be a place to find information, contacts, and first-hand advice about Canada. To visit it, just click on the “Thinking of Moving to Canada” link at the top of the right sidebar. Feel free to comment or ask questions through the blog comments field or by e-mailing any of the authors directly. It’s still under construction, so keep checking back for more links, resources and information, and tell us how we can make it more useful to you.
In one of today’s posts, Christopher Key, descendent of the composer of the US national anthem, Vietnam War veteran and US Citizen moving to Canada, offers his thoughts on this day of remembrance. They’re reproduced below. I’m sure all of my fellow Canadian bloggers join me in expressing our thanks to the brave veterans who risked, or lost, their lives to protect our countries and our freedoms. Itís Remembrance Day in Canada and Veterans Day here in the Disunited States. I always try to dash off a brief meditation on the occasion. On this side of the border, we pay a lot of lip service to veterans and donít pay much of anything else. You can see cars everywhere with yellow ìSupport Our Troopsî ribbons on them. Most of them seem to have voted for George W. Bush. Thatís a perfect example of the delusional thinking that put Dubya and company back in office. Bush has supported our troops by putting them in harmís way and trying to hide the resulting carnage from the American public. He has consistently and drastically cut veterans benefits from health care to education to housing. And yet, I would wager most veterans in this country voted him another term. The principal of a local high school felt compelled to issue a letter of apology after a student-arranged Veterans Day assembly that featured two members of Veterans For Peace. He assured parents that another assembly would be held with speakers ìÖfrom the other side.î Presumably, veterans for war. I have never understood how anyone who has experienced war can do anything but oppose it with every fiber of their being. I wonder if the kids who are dying daily in Iraq know what theyíre fighting for. When I was a 20 year old in Vietnam, I hadnít a clue. I was fairly certain I wasnít fighting for my country. The Vietnamese didnít seem to think I was fighting for theirs. Itís hard to win a war when you donít know what youíre fighting for. Thomas Jefferson once said that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots. I believe any tree needing blood for nourishment has nothing to do with liberty. Perhaps thatís why all the blood Americans have shed, both their own and that of others, has resulted in a steady erosion of liberties. Canada seems to have assumed the mantle of liberty from the once proud American nation. And they manage to do it with far less violence. Any wonder why so many of us are headed north? |
REFLECTION 11/11 – BY CHRISTOPHER KEY
