Dear Roger,
This is Jared McGinn, I'm another student in Mr.Theriault's World Issues class. I was just wondering what it's like to be active in 2 entirely different worlds? Well I guess I mean, what is it like living around so much war and poverty and seeing what us and some many others don't even know about, and then coming back places like Canada where we take most of our freedoms and just life in general for granted?
1 comment:
Hi Jared – I must admit that your question catches me a bit off-guard purely since it is a bit “personal”. I of course do not mind trying to answer it although I am not sure whether my answer will suit you? I suppose I can start by giving a little self-history because a lot of the things we do today has been influenced by what we did in the past.
Everybody talks about the ‘60s, Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll and Free Love. Beatles, Rolling Stones, Hippies, Communes and all the hype that went with it. If we do the mathematics and since I was born in 1945 by the time 1965 came around I was already 20 years old and in the Canadian Military. But the above was the American (USA) style of influence that sort of rubbed off on us Canadians. It did so by the great power of Television and by the way we only had two (2) Channels of the CBC – one in French and the other in English. I remember exactly where I was (as do a lot of people my age) when I first heard the news that John F. Kennedy was shot. So what am I getting at? It was during this time that the Viet Nam War was at its peak. Even in Canada we were “bombarded” daily with visual proof of how this War was being fought. We had daily “body counts”, we had pictures of B52 Bombers doing Saturation Runs on the small country and we had continuous reminders of the “horrors of war” brought to you right into your living room. In fact News Reporting has never really gone back to “innocent days” since then. Just take a look at your nightly Newscast on any given day. Gaza Strip is right in your face. Although I did not personally go to Viet Nam there was ample opportunity for me to meet Nam Veterans as I served with NATO in Germany for close to five (5) years in 1972 and beyond. We would meet and discuss with them just what some of them had gone through. It was a time when Terrorism was just starting to make its ugly face known to us. In Europe we had the Baader Meinhof Gang (robbery and mail bombs), in Italy we had the Red Brigade and of course we cannot forget the 1972 Munich Olympics fiasco? Yasser Arafat was not a “statesman” at that time. He was the most wanted man on the planet. It was during this time that I got an interest in the study of Terrorism and attended University as a means to learn more. We were some of the “Pilot Projects” for the University as terrorism was not a hot course on the Curriculum prior to these times. Our Professor in the matter was very well respected and well known in the “shady world”. He arranged meetings with people who had served with the Irish IRA and even folks from the FLQ (Quebec)! Add to the above the fact that Hollywood decided to make “realistic films”. Films became “gory”. Look at Friday the 13th, The Exorcist and others of the Genre? Blood and Guts are mostly shown for their mere “shock” value.
It has always amazed me that our Film Rating System will not allow to show a “Woman’s Bare Breast” on TV while you can readily see people being Beheaded, chopped up and/or shot in the most gruesome ways without them even batting an eyeball!
Can you see where I am going with this? It has been a process of slow but deliberate “saturation” to be able to look at Human Suffering and to be able to put it into a certain “personal” perspective? However, I am not suggesting that I have become “inured” or “callous” over the years. If I thought that then I could not live with myself?
The “Real Thing” is not like a film? You never get used to it.
However, there were other exposures that assisted me in keeping to what I hope is a balanced approach relevant to your question?
During the above times and by being in Europe I had the greatest chance to travel widely and I took full advantage of it. It was during this travel that I was exposed, either through my work or through personal travel, to the myriad of cultures and conditions of life that varied from abject poverty to opulent excess? I have been exposed to the worst ways that mankind can treat mankind to the best ways they treat each other. These were great “learning experiences”.
But let us get back to your question. I credit my family for helping me keep my balance. When I leave my Mission Area and return to Canada it is my family that “brings me back down to earth”. They make me realize that there is another world out there that is radically different than the one that I have just left. Without this type of support I can fairly well say that the experiences gone through may have had a bigger negative toll than it has had.
Another issue that has helped me to maintain a certain balance is the Discipline that was instilled in me through my Military Training. It has taught me to stay “focused”. I know that a word like “focus” is a current “Buzz Word” these days but it was not always so. The discipline taught me to focus on the real and not the hypothetical.
There are issues in this world that you can exercise a good amount of control over and there are others that you have no influence whatsoever? Trying to stop the killing or feed the vast masses are definitely not within my powers? Concentrate on what you can control?
I know what my job is. I cannot save the world. I can only try by reason and example to show the communities where we live and work that there is an alternative to killing and with a collective effort that they can also benefit to better their lives.
I hope that I never get so “hardened” that what goes on around me has no effect on me. If that day comes I will remove myself from that environment.
You are correct about our own Nation, Canada, perhaps not fully appreciating what we have. I will use an example that was provided to me by my daughter many years ago. She had come to visit me in Togo, West Africa where one must state that the standard of living is very low. One day as we were driving around she says “You know dad, we in Canada spend Millions of dollars on advertising to try and convince Canadians that we have a great country. It still does not seem to have any great effect?” She then said “Why don’t we take that money and charter airplanes and fly Canadians over to places like Togo and have them live among the people here for a week?”
“I’ll bet you that they would never complain about Canada ever again!”
Although it may sound like a ‘funny’ idea, the concept and the notion behind it is great. Have Canadians live on one cup of rice per day (for an adult and a child), live where the toilet is just a few feet from your doorstep, live in fear that the next noise you hear might be a couple of guys with AK47 Assault Rifles wanting to take the five (5) dollars you managed to earn the whole week or if you are a woman the chances of being raped are great and live by opening up a small little shop on the street to sell small goods from 0600hrs in the morning to 2300hrs at night just to make three (2) dollars at the end of the day?? Ask a Canadian to do that!
I’ve said it once and will keep repeating the same story – we really do not know what “hardship” living is comparative to other Nations in the world. That does not make us “bad people” but some of us wish that our countrymen could appreciate what we do have just a little bit more?
End result is that you are correct, it is not easy living in diametrically opposed worlds. However, I did choose to do what I do and so I must try to do it to the best of my ability.
Thanks for your question – I hope I have done it justice.
Roger Arsenault 12 January 2009
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