Dear Editor,

I have been reading a lot of World War 2 history lately, and have been pondering how our parents and grandparents dealt with a worldwide crisis that threatened millions of lives vs. how we are sometimes dealing with our own pandemic crisis.

What if Canadians in WW2 had acted the way we often seem to be acting today:

• What if a small but influential group of citizens simply refused to believe we were at war and that their own government had made up Hitler and his war machine, that film footage and news reports from Europe were “deep fakes?”

• What if others demanded that any and all steps the government was taking on the home front to fight Nazism be stopped, as they were infringing on some personal liberties?

• What if many citizens refused to get their facts from newspapers, radio, knowledgeable professionals or government communications, instead going to public parks to listen to the fevered rantings of madmen on soapboxes, who spouted insane conspiracy theories? What if these crazy fictions spread like wildfire and undermined everyone’s perception of what was really going on?

• What if young men and women who joined the Armed Forces to fight Hitler were ridiculed as “sheep?”

• What if a significant minority of young people (and older folk who should know better) ignored the whole thing and carried on partying?

I realize that comparisons and analogies are often deeply flawed, but my point is that from 1939 to 1945, Canadians in general put their personal agendas on the back burner and got “on board” with fighting the fight. And we prevailed, defeating a monstrous threat.

How have we been doing in the past 12 months in comparison?

Clint Coffey, Maple Ridge

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• READ MORE: Second World War veteran dies soon after 100th birthday of COVID

• READ MORE: Maple Ridge father played vital role in Pacific war

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