Is lowering flags too stark a reminder?
Editorial appeared in Fort McMurray Today April 26, 2006
Immediately following the terrorists attacks of 9/11, the United States was awash in patriotism; the Stars and Stripes hung from windows, flapped on cars' radio antennas and was emblazoned on T-shirts, posters and bumper stickers. Slogans trumped actual political debate over the nation's response to attacks on its own soil, which isn't to say that some of the rallying cries didn't contain some truth.
"Freedom isn't free" was one of them, a shorter, pithier update on Thomas Jefferson's "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance," even if Jefferson's words spoke more to freedom from an oppressive regime, while the 21st-century version was more about sending soldiers off to war.
In Canada, we as a nation decided not to join the U.S.'s unsanctioned (by the United Nations) invasion of Iraq. However, we have been providing support in Afghanistan, a commitment that has come with its own grim cost, a cost that gets steeper and steeper the longer our soldiers are there. Four more were killed on the weekend, touching off a political debate over whether federal buildings should lower the Maple Leaf to honour those killed in combat.
The longstanding rule in the military has been to leave the flag flying atop the pole as normal, and it's from that policy that new Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes his cue, differing from the recent Liberal government, although under Chretien and Martin it wasn't always clear what the criteria were for lowering the Maple Leaf.
But the federal government is not the military. In the military, a lowered flag wouldn't just be a sign of respect; it's a stark reminder that colleagues and friends have been killed. Soldiers already know what their job is, and that there is always a chance they could get killed doing it; a permanently lowered flag would wreak havoc on morale.
Back in Canada, though, it sometimes seems that we need reminders of the danger that our soldiers face. Harper and his government know full well that the sight of a flag at half mast -- not to mention flag-draped coffins of fallen soldiers -- would erode support for military missions, however necessary.
That underestimates Canadians' intelligence and sense of global responsibility. Putting the flag at half-mast for a combat death -- no matter how long the flag has to stay there -- would do more than just honour the men and women who give their lives; it would remind us of the human cost of our military endeavours, the price of freedom.
Immediately following the terrorists attacks of 9/11, the United States was awash in patriotism; the Stars and Stripes hung from windows, flapped on cars' radio antennas and was emblazoned on T-shirts, posters and bumper stickers. Slogans trumped actual political debate over the nation's response to attacks on its own soil, which isn't to say that some of the rallying cries didn't contain some truth.
"Freedom isn't free" was one of them, a shorter, pithier update on Thomas Jefferson's "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance," even if Jefferson's words spoke more to freedom from an oppressive regime, while the 21st-century version was more about sending soldiers off to war.
In Canada, we as a nation decided not to join the U.S.'s unsanctioned (by the United Nations) invasion of Iraq. However, we have been providing support in Afghanistan, a commitment that has come with its own grim cost, a cost that gets steeper and steeper the longer our soldiers are there. Four more were killed on the weekend, touching off a political debate over whether federal buildings should lower the Maple Leaf to honour those killed in combat.
The longstanding rule in the military has been to leave the flag flying atop the pole as normal, and it's from that policy that new Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes his cue, differing from the recent Liberal government, although under Chretien and Martin it wasn't always clear what the criteria were for lowering the Maple Leaf.
But the federal government is not the military. In the military, a lowered flag wouldn't just be a sign of respect; it's a stark reminder that colleagues and friends have been killed. Soldiers already know what their job is, and that there is always a chance they could get killed doing it; a permanently lowered flag would wreak havoc on morale.
Back in Canada, though, it sometimes seems that we need reminders of the danger that our soldiers face. Harper and his government know full well that the sight of a flag at half mast -- not to mention flag-draped coffins of fallen soldiers -- would erode support for military missions, however necessary.
That underestimates Canadians' intelligence and sense of global responsibility. Putting the flag at half-mast for a combat death -- no matter how long the flag has to stay there -- would do more than just honour the men and women who give their lives; it would remind us of the human cost of our military endeavours, the price of freedom.
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