“Persuasive guessing has been at the core of leadership for so long–for all of human experience so far–that it is wholly unsurprising that most of the leaders of this planet, in spite of all the information that is suddenly ours, want the guessing to go on, because now it is their turn to guess and be listened to”
Kurt Vonnegut
It has been weeks since my last blog and as Janette stated in her article, sometimes we just find ourselves caught up in the hubbub of everyday life. We find ourselves championing different causes or we have to take the kids to work and sometimes we get caught up in the rat race even though we know better. The pen may indeed be mightier then the sword but sometimes it takes great strength to lift up the pen and write about difficult issues such as death, disease and debauchery.
Many events have taken place in Canada and throughout the world in the last month or so. The loonie has hit parity with the greenback for the first time since the late seventies , Omar Khadr’s ruling was overturned by a military appellate court and the council for the city that I live in (London) voted in favor of placing yellow ribbons on all city vehicles. The continuing NATO mission in Afghanistan has also made the front pages of our major dailies in the last few days.
Even though I do not like Tim Horton’s coffee, I am not particularly fond of the Tragically Hip and have refused to watch NHL hockey since the lockout, I am still very much in love with my country. I love my country so much that I question the direction our leaders are taking her in.
Future wars will be fought over minerals and resources, heck the Iraq war IS being fought over the most precious mineral of them all. For those who still think that the Iraq war was about liberation and not about oil, I would like to point out that all government ministry offices except for two were looted and ransacked as the US Marines stood by and did nothing. The two Ministry Offices that were guarded vehemently by US Forces were the Ministry of the Interior and yep, you guessed it, the Ministry of Oil. Governments may spend hundreds of million dollars in public relations but sometimes actions speak louder than words as the old saying goes.
Canadian industries have been ransacked by a foreign occupation force not carrying any large firearms or wearing camouflaged fatigues but by carrying cheque-books and wearing power ties. Our leaders, the guessers as Vonnegut liked to call them have stood idly by as our industries continue to fall into the hands of foreign investors. Alcan are you there? Where did Inco go? Falconbridge, can you hear me? Say it ain’t so Dofasco!
What disturbs me the most is what is happening to Canada regarding the War on [T] errorism. The guessers have told us that we are on NATO mission to eradicate Afghanistan of the Taliban who refused to turn over Osama Bid Laden who planned the horrific attacks on our American brethren. The guessers have also told us that we are also helping the Afghan civilians by building schools, roads etc. The guessers have not been able to guess correctly where Bin laden has been for the last six years for what it’s worth.
So we are trying to help America and Afghanistan but both countries are enraged with us at the moment. US Senators expressed their concerns about terrorist organizations working in Canada. They questioned security holes at our border crossings and worried that radioactive materials could slip into their beloved country from Canada which harbors more international terrorist groups than any other county in the world if a CSIS report from 2002 is to be believed.
The other country we are supposed to be helping has wished death upon us as NATO forces killed two more innocent civilians this week. Lester B. Pearson must be rolling in his grave as Afghan villagers screamed “Death to Canada, death to foreigners.” We once had clout in the Middle East; we were once respected as Pearson won a Noble Peace Prize for his diplomatic prowess in resolving the Suez Canal conflict. Sadly, the good old days have longed passed as by as our guessers put us in danger by taking sides in the Middle East. We are no longer diplomats who want to resolve issues peacefully, our guessers have guessed that might is right and we will now solve our conflicts with missiles and rockets rather than treaties and pledges.
I can’t help but cringe when one of the villagers present at the NATO raid told the press that “the day is not far when these innocent civilians will stand against NATO and other foreign troops.” Our guessers have guessed wrong again and ensured that the War on Terrorism has only been successful in creating more ‘terrorists.’
Max De Luca is a freelance writer who lives in London, Ontario Canada. His short stories and articles have appeared in such publications as the Istanbul Literature Review, Inscribed Magazine and Mobius: A Journal for Social Change. He is influenced by the work of Kurt Vonnegut Jr, Hunter S Thompson and Howard Zinn. Read other posts by Max De Luca.
