Describe Canada in a sentence
- Thread starter Tom Green Fan
- Start date
I like ITN's post. And I like Toro's veritable masterpiece of a run-on sentence.
Canada holds the pride of her heritage, the strength of her friendships, the beauty of her land, and the love of her people, and with these things, she is rich.
Canada holds the pride of her heritage, the strength of her friendships, the beauty of her land, and the love of her people, and with these things, she is rich.
Re: RE: Describe Canada in a sentence
My father, a Canadian, is very war tested...WW2, Korea and postings in Cyprus, the Middle East and as a UN observer in Viet Nam. I was in the Canadian military in the Golan Heights, Cyprus and Haiti.
Your statement is naive. You have no idea what many of your fellow Canadians have experienced.
Hank C said:
My father, a Canadian, is very war tested...WW2, Korea and postings in Cyprus, the Middle East and as a UN observer in Viet Nam. I was in the Canadian military in the Golan Heights, Cyprus and Haiti.
Your statement is naive. You have no idea what many of your fellow Canadians have experienced.
Canada could have had English government, French culture, and American know-how; instead it got French government, American culture, and English know-how.
Wish I could remember who said that first; modesty prevents me from claiming credit for it myself.
Wish I could remember who said that first; modesty prevents me from claiming credit for it myself.
Re: RE: Describe Canada in a sentence
talking about the general public...a few bodybags and the population want to jet out of Afghanistan. Don't tell me they know and dont agree with the mission, actually most have no idea about the mission...but are more stuck up on peacekeeping and anti americanism.
athabaska said:
talking about the general public...a few bodybags and the population want to jet out of Afghanistan. Don't tell me they know and dont agree with the mission, actually most have no idea about the mission...but are more stuck up on peacekeeping and anti americanism.
Re: RE: Describe Canada in a sentence
!? Do you know *anything* about the history of this country? Do these place names mean anything to you: Paaschendael, Vimy Ridge, Juno Beach, Moyland Wood, Leopold Canal, ... and there are a thousand others. Do you know who liberated the southern Netherlands in the area from Rotterdam to Nijmegen? It was us. Do you know who was among the first to meet the Red Army in the big push east in the closing days of WW2? 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, at Wismar on the Baltic, my Uncle Frank was there.
Non war tested... Feh! Do some reading. When this nation has felt justified in going to war, it's given full measure and earned respect and admiration from its allies.
Hank C said:
!? Do you know *anything* about the history of this country? Do these place names mean anything to you: Paaschendael, Vimy Ridge, Juno Beach, Moyland Wood, Leopold Canal, ... and there are a thousand others. Do you know who liberated the southern Netherlands in the area from Rotterdam to Nijmegen? It was us. Do you know who was among the first to meet the Red Army in the big push east in the closing days of WW2? 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, at Wismar on the Baltic, my Uncle Frank was there.
Non war tested... Feh! Do some reading. When this nation has felt justified in going to war, it's given full measure and earned respect and admiration from its allies.
Re: RE: Describe Canada in a sentence
I know who Canada has liberated, and that we had the 3rd largest navy once, and we participated in past wars. What I am trying to say is that the current population is jsut not war tested. Its been some time.....and the way our public is leaving our soilders out there to dry with little support is sad.
Dexter Sinister said:
I know who Canada has liberated, and that we had the 3rd largest navy once, and we participated in past wars. What I am trying to say is that the current population is jsut not war tested. Its been some time.....and the way our public is leaving our soilders out there to dry with little support is sad.
Its like at the first sign of trouble, the country turns into scott brison in downtown Vancouver.
Dexter Sinister said:
It's a good quote. Well, I made up my sentence about Canada with my own two little hands.
Re: RE: Describe Canada in a sentence
Hey Hank, I think maybe we have a small misunderstanding caused by having mere words to communicate with here, without the nuances of tone of voice and body language and immediate feedback that are so crucial to good conversation.
Agreed (though there are still a few people around who remember Canada at war), but that isn't what you said the first time. I suspected it was what you meant, but as a student of history I just couldn't let that bald remark go by without comment. And we need to ask why the current population isn't war-tested, and think about whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. Personally, I'd rather not be war-tested. Many of my relatives and many of the parents of my friends are (or were, in many cases) veterans of WW2, and my overall impression is that it's not something you want to go looking for.
And agreed again. It's more than sad, it's a disgrace. Our national governments have impoverished and starved and demoralized our military services for at least 40 years, and lost us much of our once highly respected place in the world. We're stretched thin with keeping 2000 people in Afghanistan; that's pathetic. We should be able to field 100 times that number and put them anywhere in the world we feel they're needed on a moment's notice. And not have to rent space on foreign transports....jeez, that's embarrassing. It's a sorry fact of life, but in today's world if you don't have a credible military force you won't be taken seriously. Maybe some day we'll all get past that and be able to treat everybody as the family members we actually are, but it's not going to happen any time soon and in the meantime we have to be able to kick some ass in defence of what we believe. And if we're going to put our people out there in harm's way in defence of our values, then by dammit we'd better support them all the way.
But this probably isn't the right thread to discuss Canada's military services in. I dunno that we'd actually have much to discuss anyway. My impression from all the posts of yours I've read is that we'd probably agree on most things in this context.
p.s. I corrected a few typos in the stuff of yours I quoted. I hate typos in my posts, even when they're somebody else's.
Hey Hank, I think maybe we have a small misunderstanding caused by having mere words to communicate with here, without the nuances of tone of voice and body language and immediate feedback that are so crucial to good conversation.
Hank C said:
Agreed (though there are still a few people around who remember Canada at war), but that isn't what you said the first time. I suspected it was what you meant, but as a student of history I just couldn't let that bald remark go by without comment. And we need to ask why the current population isn't war-tested, and think about whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. Personally, I'd rather not be war-tested. Many of my relatives and many of the parents of my friends are (or were, in many cases) veterans of WW2, and my overall impression is that it's not something you want to go looking for.
And agreed again. It's more than sad, it's a disgrace. Our national governments have impoverished and starved and demoralized our military services for at least 40 years, and lost us much of our once highly respected place in the world. We're stretched thin with keeping 2000 people in Afghanistan; that's pathetic. We should be able to field 100 times that number and put them anywhere in the world we feel they're needed on a moment's notice. And not have to rent space on foreign transports....jeez, that's embarrassing. It's a sorry fact of life, but in today's world if you don't have a credible military force you won't be taken seriously. Maybe some day we'll all get past that and be able to treat everybody as the family members we actually are, but it's not going to happen any time soon and in the meantime we have to be able to kick some ass in defence of what we believe. And if we're going to put our people out there in harm's way in defence of our values, then by dammit we'd better support them all the way.
But this probably isn't the right thread to discuss Canada's military services in. I dunno that we'd actually have much to discuss anyway. My impression from all the posts of yours I've read is that we'd probably agree on most things in this context.
p.s. I corrected a few typos in the stuff of yours I quoted. I hate typos in my posts, even when they're somebody else's.
dexter,
it is far greater to be able to say one is not war-tested, and no matter what warring has occured in the past, war is never something of glory or pride.
While the government must stand behind its military (if for no other reason than it must if it expects to have a military), it is not the "duty" of the populace to stand behind the military or the government. It is the responsibility of the people to question and keep actions open and accountable.
it is far greater to be able to say one is not war-tested, and no matter what warring has occured in the past, war is never something of glory or pride.
While the government must stand behind its military (if for no other reason than it must if it expects to have a military), it is not the "duty" of the populace to stand behind the military or the government. It is the responsibility of the people to question and keep actions open and accountable.
Re: RE: Describe Canada in a sentence
yea were were both on a different page....my fault for the widely interpretable comment.
...and don't get me started on Canada having to hitch a ride to places like southasia after that tsunami....its just so sad for a G8 nation to have allowed our forces to decline so far.
Dexter Sinister said:
yea were were both on a different page....my fault for the widely interpretable comment.
...and don't get me started on Canada having to hitch a ride to places like southasia after that tsunami....its just so sad for a G8 nation to have allowed our forces to decline so far.
Re: RE: Describe Canada in a sentence
Its the governments fault for not explaining the mission to the population...you are right about it not being the "duty" of the populace to stand behind the military, but its the governments job to at least attempt to sell the war appropriately....maybe they could of used their propaganda CBC more effectively :wink:
the caracal kid said:
Its the governments fault for not explaining the mission to the population...you are right about it not being the "duty" of the populace to stand behind the military, but its the governments job to at least attempt to sell the war appropriately....maybe they could of used their propaganda CBC more effectively :wink:
Re: RE: Describe Canada in a sentence
Oh, agreed, absolutely and without reservation. My father and his brother (Hamilton Light Infantry), various other uncles and in-laws (1st Cdn Paras, 15th Field Regiment), and the fathers of my friends (South Sask. Regiment, Regina Rifle Regiment, Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Stormont Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry) would certainly agree as well. They all talked fondly of the camaradarie, but that was their only positive memory, and even 50 and 60 years after the fact there were many things they simply refused to talk about. They were all wounded, one way or another.the caracal kid said:
Agreed again, I think, depending on precisely what you mean by that. I'd agree we have no duty to support the government, but if our democratically (more or less) elected government decides to commit our military forces to something on our behalf, then I think we do have a duty to make sure they've got the best training and equipment we can give them and to treat them with respect and courtesy. The military didn't decide to put our people in harm's way in Kandahar, for instance, the government did, and we can freely criticize the government for that in pretty much any way we want, but we can't criticize the military for it. We can criticize the military for what it does over there, and hold it to certain standards of behaviour, and we do that too, but we can't legitimately criticize them for the mission they've been given.
