To the Editor,
Commemorating the “Great War” of 1914 -1918 is an excellent way to show our respect and gratitude to the valiant Canadians who fought and died a century ago.
There is however one thing that sticks in my craw. During these sombre reflective events, politicians are attracted to the limelight and inevitably read carefully crafted speeches—liberally sprinkled with emotive words such as valour, sacrifice and pride—but fail to mention the world’s march into that military madness was avoidable.
In the aftermath of the so-called war to end all wars, short-sighted leaders in the victorious countries imposed excessively punitive reparations on their impoverished adversaries and arbitrarily redrew the maps in Europe and the Middle East for their own economic benefit. Their intolerable arrogance planted bitter seeds in the hearts of the vanquished.
A generation later, Hitler would nurture those seeds with his Nazi propaganda and turn deep-seated resentment into apocalyptic fury.
Lloyd Atkins,
Port Alberni
