Freedom For Our Country
Heroes Remember
Freedom For Our Country
How fortunate we are to live in this wonderful country
and I think unfortunately people don't realize how,
in what a dangerous world we live in.
And I often wonder in a country
so divided by region and ethnicity
and the divisions in the country
are disturbing, I think.
All this business about multiculturalism and so on.
Having spent nearly seven years
talking to high school students,
I don't hear very much about
being a Canadian and that disturbs me.
When I think of what
the 1,100,000 young Canadians went through in World War II
to preserve this country with its traditions and its values,
it disturbs me that I don't hear
almost anything about being a Canadian.
A common question asked by high school students is,
“Why would you risk your life?
Why would you undergo
this horrendous experience of the military?
Why did you do that?”
And of course I say to them,
“Well, why do you ask such a question?”
And the answer is they have no concept of
what the obligations of a Canadian citizen are.
I don't know why but it's just amazing.
The idea that they don't understand today that it is
the duty and the responsibility of people when their
society is in crisis to volunteer to do something about it.
That's how you preserve your freedom
and preserve this wonderful country
and this wonderful culture we live in.
The idea that freedom is not free,
that we've had to pay for it and we must be
prepared to pay for it in the future.
We live in a very dangerous world and yet
I don't see any concern on anybody's part about...
with the values of this country as a whole.
And yet no matter who you are
or how rich you were if you had your choice
I can't imagine where you would want to live anymore
than in this country with its political stability and its civilization.
And yet, millions of people around the world
would love to live here
and yet our high school students say,
“Well, why would you want to risk your life?
For what?
What's here that's of any value?”
That's what that question implies.
The idea that somehow we can live without
protecting ourselves with a military force
in a dangerous world is utopian nonsense.
We need, if we intend to be free,
we're going to have to be prepared to defend ourselves.
And it's too bad and it's unfortunate and war is a terrible thing
but slavery is a hell of a lot worse.
And for those who think that we don't need an armed force
and that the world is full of lovely people
who mean us no harm they ought to try slavery.
They'll find out what it's like to live
when the kind of world we live in is no longer possible.
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