Our minds spin. Our world marred.
Watching terrorism in Canada, we take comfort knowing security forces live for this. They exist to manage emergencies. We expect they will be there when we need them.
We watch armoured vehicles mobilize on Parliament hill. A medic performs CPR on an honour guard. Police in black facemasks and ballistic vests point revolvers at rooftops as politicians dive into tank-like trucks.
We need Canadians in uniform. We honour their commitment and sacrifice. As civilians we never understand the toughness required to run into danger to protect our freedom, our way of life. If asked, we would do almost anything to support them.
Canadians inherit pioneering toughness. New Canadians know courage, risk and resourcefulness coming to a new country, a new life. Third and fourth generation Canadians know grit when death and financial ruin were realities of climate and landscape. Perhaps some heritage Canadians have never known vital challenge – never needed self-sufficiency – but they are few. Canadians know how to manage.
Crisis reveals the limits of our system, and it gives government reason to take more control.
Living in the North requires confidence to take personal control in crisis. A nanny state that turns Canadians into undeserving recipients of state beneficence insults the fabric of Canadian identity. It undermines the core nature required to thrive in the North. But in national crisis, we risk compromise of identity for state solutions.
Terror on Parliament Hill. Ebola threatening. Acute care overwhelmed.
Canada will emerge stronger from all of this. Thank God for soldiers who sacrifice for us, for our way of life. Let’s hope our leaders avert crisis without crushing our freedom, our passion, and our Canadianism in the process.
photo credit: nationalpost.com
