IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHAT IS IN YOUR HEART
Comtroversey over yellow ribbons and decals on publicly owned vehicles and buildings is unseemly and unecessary.
When I first saw the symbols begin to appear I was conflicted; but there are always three ways of looking at almost everything. There’s the perceived truth and there’s the untruth; and then there’s the real truth.
For those who mourn the deaths of young Canadian women and men in the the Afghan "war", the ribbons and decals can express sorrow and grief. And that’s appropriate.
For those who support our participation in the conflict, they can be viewed as a gung-ho endorsement of the war fighting.
For those of us who oppose this and all wars, they can be viewed as a constant reminder of the horrors and futility of war itself.
We can look at those symbols and be reminded not just of the needless deaths of our soldiers; we can be reminded too, of the suffering and anguish that is being inflicted on Afghan families, who are losing their own loved ones in military operations over which they have no control.
The remaining issue might be with the colour.
Black might be more appropriate.
Sorry, Jim.
Wrong thinking.
Our public services are exactly that. Their management has the right only to advance, enhance and deliver within their mandate, to do their very best for the public.
This does NOT include support for a deeply divisive war.
Once again, the chump-factor rears its stupid, narcissistic head. Some armchair-warriors in Emergency Services have taken this opportunity to self-promote without consulting the public or their political supervision, gambling successfully that we won’t have the wontons to challenge them.
This situation is not an oppoprtunity for sad reflection as you suggest, it’s a time to rein in public servants who have stepped over the line.
Would you have the same view if the other half of emergency workers used stick-ons to oppose the war? Or to support Gay Pride? or the Green Party?
My thinking was this: it’s true that for most of those who display them, the ribbons symbolize support for the war.
But those of us – a majority I may add – who do NOT support the war and who do NOT sport the ribbons, can look upon them for what they are. …symbols of violence and wrong-headed conflict. I agree that civil servants ought not to be showing them on their vehicles and buildings, but on the other hand, I think the attitude is a bit different here than it is in the United States. Important to remember also, that they display them with the approval of officials whom we elect.
Time to copy this url again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmsOIjzQ1V8
…paste it into your browser…and have a look.
Actualy the yellow ribbon is a suicide prevention program. However there a similar red and blue ribon with the words support our troups.