It’s at this time of year that we celebrate the prominent battles, victories and end of the Second World War in 1945. Last Thursday was the 75th anniversary of VE Day, Victory in Europe Day, ending that war against Nazi Germany.
While we celebrate apart this year, we are fighting another world war - the COVID-19 disease that has infected roughly four million people globally, killing close to 300,000. Those figures will be much higher when all is said and done.
Few of us were alive or old enough to remember what war in the 1940s was like. All we have are the recorded history and some personal remembrances from the dwindling number of those who lived it.
However, my feeling is that the fight back then was more unified, more focussed, more determined and less partisan than the Covid war today. Everyone seemed to work together to get through the Second World War; end the fighting and killing and get the world back to normal.
I don’t have that feeling about this pandemic. There are no powerfully uniting cultural symbols for fighting the enemy – no Rosie the Riveter, no soaring Churchillian oratory, no Vera Lynn, the “Forces’ Sweetheart”, singing to comfort the troops.
What we do have is the shocking partisan chaos in the U.S. and in Britain the bravado incompetence of Boris Johnson, who came close to being a dead victim of the coronavirus pandemic.
And, in Canada we have the bland Justin Trudeau on TV daily announcing a new financial handout to groups suffering financially by the pandemic. The financial assistance obviously is needed, but would be nice if accompanied by some stirring thoughts on how we’ll work together to beat this plague.
Something like Winston Churchill’s speech to the British House of Commons after taking over the government from the weak-kneed Neville Chamberlain:
“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”
So far it has not been our finest hour. Shortages of Personal Protective Equipment for medical personnel and other frontline workers, plus other shortages and unpreparedness that might have been avoided by paying attention to the recommendations made by the SARS Commission 15 years ago.
Then there are the nursing home deaths. The National Institute on Aging said last week that 82 per cent of Canada’s COVID-19 deaths have been in long-term settings. That is not just a national disgrace; it is a sign of corruption in our society.
I’m not saying that Canada’s response to the pandemic has been bad. We’ve done relatively well, but it certainly has not been our finest hour.
Meanwhile, over in Britain the spirit of Vera Lynn is alive and encouraging citizens to carry on the fight. Not only is the spirit alive, so is the lady herself. She is 103 and lives in the East Sussex village of Ditchling, roughly 85 kilometres south of London.
She issued a statement for the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, noting people will celebrate while being apart because of the Covid pandemic. However, while people would be apart, they should not lose hope.
"I hope that VE Day will remind us all that hope remains even in the most difficult of times and that simple acts of bravery and sacrifice still define our nation as the National Health Service works so hard to care for us.”
"Most of all, I hope today serves as a reminder that however hard things get, we will meet again."
That was a reference to her famous Second World War song, We Will Meet Again, which struck a positive, emotional chord with soldiers, families and sweethearts.
Just as popular was her White Cliffs of Dover song, the 1942 war anthem promising better times to come. Its message is worth repeating in these days of anxiety about whether our world ever will be the same again.
There'll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of DoverTomorrow, just you wait and seeThere'll be love and laughterAnd peace ever afterTomorrow, when the world is free
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