And Then There Were Four

One of five remaining Canadian veterans from the Great War died this weekend (article). Clare Laking led an active life almost right up to his death at the age of 106. He is also thought to have been the last living veteran in Canada who saw action on the front line where he served as a private with the Canadian Field Artillery, 27th Battery, 4th Brigade. Laking joined the army against his pacifist father's wishes and was awarded the French Legion of Honour and the Golden Jubilee Medal for his service. After the war he said that he began to agree with his father's views regarding war and came to believe that the world should settle its differences without war. It seems to me that veterans of war speak often of avoiding war and its horrors. Conversely, those who have not gone to war seem to be caught up in some imagined glamour of it and continue to encourage the practice. I don't know if humans have it in them to resolve their conflicts without resorting to violence. I'd like to think that we are a high enough order of apes to control our reactionary bullshit, but I think a secondary problem is that the business of war fits too well with capitalist ideals to die anytime soon. Why do I feel sad when a man I never knew dies on the other side of the country? He reminds me of all the people who never got to live out their days at home in peace, and I can't help but think about the handful of people responsible for sending millions to their deaths. I am of course forever grateful to those who sacrificed their lives for a future generation that includes me, but I still hate that the sacrifice was made. We are all responsible for these deaths in some way, the human connection we all share with each other should be enough to make us feel something about these tremendous losses. We learn nothing from each successive war other than how to make them more destructive to the enemy. It's unfortunate that we worry more about improving war machines than we do about fostering a world in which those machines are not needed. I suppose this won't happen until things go too far, and everyone finally realizes that we're all in it together on this tiny planet.