Patriotism is contagious

Toes numb, hair soaked, fingers red and shaky, I stood watching rows of Canadian air, military and navy personnel marching to the National War Memorial for the Remembrance Day ceremony. I have to admit I felt something. I'm not sure what did it was - maybe the sweet old veterans, frail and smiling, or the young cadets, too small for their uniforms and slightly out of line. Maybe it was the young soldiers, who may have just returned from Afghanistan, or might be going soon. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for children's choirs and bagpipes.

But the point is that something happened, and I suddenly felt that maybe war WAS glorious. The music, the children, the flags, the rain, the old geezers...all of it culminated in an unfamiliar sense of patriotism that made me want to support McCrae's dangerous demand to "take up our quarrel with the foe".

I found myself thinking that there MUST be a reason they do it. These young men, these kids, they must see something I don't see, understand something I could never understand. I wanted so badly to believe there was a good, justifiable reason to fight death with more death, to kill civilians, to sacrifice our own citizens under the guise of mythical terms like "democracy" and "freedom".

There was too much love there, however misguided, to believe that it is all for naught. Never mind if I actually do.