THOSE WERE THE DAYS: “A Test of Time”
In one of my columns a few years ago I likened life to a ski hill where it was a struggle to work one’s way up to the peak but once we begin our downward slide, we seem to gather more speed as we continue closer to the bottom.
Age does have it’s perks though providing the body holds together as best one can ask and the brain still functions ignoring the words old and senile. In my case, I can still recall the later days of the Great Depression when apples from our one tree, Dad’s success in hunting and wild asparagus graced our dinner table.
The early 1940s was a confusing time, as World War II unveiled it’s mysteries we learned about the destruction of cities and the deaths of people, some of whom we never knew existed. With continued paper and metal drives and unable to buy normal daily items such as sugar, some meats, auto tires and women’s nylons, the war seemed to explain itself; but oh, the jubilation when our victorious warriors returned home and yes, the sadness for those remembered with a cloth star hanging in their front window.
In 1918 the war to end all wars didn’t end all wars at all, conflicts between nations and disagreements between countries have fed the world a continuous diet of shootings and killings from 1945 until now. At Christmas we sing about peace on Earth goodwill toward men, beautiful hymns that echo an irony of lost meaning.
Over the years great men and women have been born, served the world with their gift of knowledge and live on with statues of marble and stone; statues some factions want to tear down in hope of changing our history. But history is not conveyed through statues or even books, history is what is handed down by generations of people who were there, people who made history. Though some passed on from natural causes and others lost their lives through assassination, their messages of wisdom and invention will never die.
Sixty thousand Canadian men and women gave their all in WW I and forty thousand in WW II, faith in our country, faith in our future are secured because we refuse to forget the past. Heads are bowed all across Canada on November 11th, not as a tradition but as a true and sincere remembrance.
I have seen a dictator rise and fall, man walking on the moon, the crowning and death of a Queen, twin towers in the United States reduced to rubble, pandemics grinding the entire world to a halt, icebergs melting, fires erasing magnificent forests, floods sweeping away communities and crime rendering some of our streets no longer safe to travel.
Of course, I am concerned for the boys and girls who will be brought into this world in the coming new year, hopefully, they will be no different in 2024 than I was in 1934. We had misery sure, yet much happiness as will the children who will mold this Earth in the coming years. I have witnessed eight decades of war, may the youth of today choose to clasp hands instead of guns.
From my house to yours, A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year.
Russ Sanders, epigram@nexicom.net
