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The Stew: Veterans/Remembrance Day Thoughts |
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On this Veteran's Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in Canada, please allow me to say a deeply heartfelt thank you to our servicemen and women in both countries. I'd also like to extend a personal thank you for the service of my father, Bill Stewart Jr., and grandfather, Bill Stewart Sr. , and also stress how important it is, regardless of our political alignments, to unite in support of our active-duty troops stationed around the world.
It's been a year since the Don Cherry controversy that caused his dismissal from Hockey Night in Canada. I do not want to revisit that debate specifically, but I think it's important to reiterate the need for all of us to honor both our own family members and those from other families -- of all races, colors and creeds -- who have fought for our freedom.
I have always been moved by the "In Flanders Fields" poem. I have personally been to the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Remembrance Day as a show of respect for the sacrifices made by the people of our neighbors to the North while standing at attention and listening to trumpet play The Last Post.
One can't help but be moved by my friend John McDermott's stirring veterans' songs especially The Green Fields of France. I wear a poppy in respect but, then again, I know what it means because I was taught its significance.
In the United States and Canada, there is a cherished principle of "we the people." Once you divide the house against itself, it cannot stand. Abraham Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address, "...These dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Any time you divide "we the people" into "you people," it ventures into very dangerous territory. It is misguided and ignorant to paint entire groups with one very broad stroke and cast aspersions on "their" patriotism -- all of it based on something as flimsy as anecdotal "evidence". There is nothing constructive to gain.
Education is a starting place, divisiveness and finger-pointing are not: Within the former, there's room for dialogue, constructive debate and better understanding.
Inevitably and unfortunately, we don't have discourse in politics, either in the U.S. or Canada. What we have are two equally head-strong and demagogic camps -- left vs right -- that waste everyone else's time and money with things that detract and distract from making any actual progress on things we'd all agree are needed. That's especially true when any sort of compromise or shared credit/blame is involved. We need to both philosophically and in actual construction rebuild the present infra structure so that we can all move forward, both in our relationships with people and when we are motoring across rusted bridges in our cars.
It's an atrocious state of affairs,but sadly not surprising. We missed an opportunity for dialogue on traditional and symbolic ways Canadians (and those in the U.S.) honor those who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms. Both sides have turned it into yet another "us versus "them" pissing contest, except the "us and them" they're identifying may vary. Each side is trying to outshout the other.
I used to love the "All in the Family" television show. Carroll O'Connor, who in his real life was of fairly liberal political leanings and a highly educated man, played uneducated, arch-conservative Archie as a flesh-and-blood human being beneath the bluster. Additionally, as much as his foil, ultra-liberal son-in-law Mike, used to bicker and yell endlessly and stubbornly, each was a lot more like the other than they cared to admit.
Among many outstanding episodes, there was one that stands out in my mind that has relevance to the Don Cherry situation. At a dinner at the Bunkers' house, Mike has a friend who moved to Canada to evade the draft. Archie has a friend whose son died in combat.
Naturally, Archie and Mike bicker in circles about who was right and who was wrong. Finally, the fallen soldier's dad says to Archie words to the effect of "my son died to protect the right of your son-in-law's friend to protest the war and move to Canada." The argument stopped cold.
I have never felt threatened by opposing viewpoints or sought only ones that validate how I feel about an issue. Either there is freedom of speech or there isn't. The true test of one's commitment to freedom of speech is to protect the right to express even views that one finds odious -- and to be crystal clear that you view it as such.
Let's keep our focus on this day on our veterans themselves -- vets from many, many different backgrounds and family histories -- and encourage all people to wear a symbolic poppy as is a tradition in Canada. Using Hockey to help unite all of our various peoples and teaching all to cherish our national freedoms as a united people.... we, not me vs. you or us vs. them.
All that's happened this week is further sowing of seeds of division, more finger-pointing, another hatchet blow at the ideological foundation our nations were built upon; imperfectly as it may have been because it's a human history.
"We must all hang together or surely we shall all hang separately." Benjamin Franklin said during the Continental Congress in 1776.
Those words ring just as true now as they did 244 years ago. For one day at least, regardless of whatever other tribal allegiances and partisan divides that are front and center right now, let's reaffirm our gratitude from those who, above all else, fought for our democracies and our liberties. That's especially for those who paid the ultimate price. Remember: our sorrows and our victories are shared experiences, and true patriotism is not bound by political labels.
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A 2018 inductee into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Visit Paul's official websites, YaWannaGo.com and Officiating by Stewart.
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
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