I was dismayed to read The Guardian's Remembrance Day headline, "No regrets." Millions upon millions of people die in often senseless wars, battling so the rich can profit while the poor are sacrificed and tortured for their benefit.
You might excuse the callousness of it by saying it refers to the young man who is suffering from PTSD and physical injuries suffered in military service. That a former soldier does not regret being injured or killing people in a foreign land is ludicrous.
Maybe he doesn't regret joining the military and cementing a bond with others contracted to kill for Canada, but he must surely regret being hit by the IED that sent him to hospital. I'm sure he also regrets the devastating effects of PTSD from which he has and continues to suffer.
Remembrance Day is not a day to celebrate the military industrial complex nor is it a time to celebrate victories that resulted in millions of people around the world dying. Remembrance Day is a time to regret, a time to remember those who suffered and died and to work towards peace in our time and for future generations. It is not a time to honour the military; it is a time to remember those who died fighting in wars that should have been prevented.
Remembrance Day is a day to regret the killing of innocents.
Lest we forget, Remembrance Day is a time to lay down arms and work for peace.
Wendy Jones,
Belle River