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Island Voices: A kinder and gentler world

As I ruminate on the passing of an American president, I am struck with a sense of loss that I did not expect. At 33 years old, I have only the most distant and obscure memory of the time George H.W.
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As I ruminate on the passing of an American president, I am struck with a sense of loss that I did not expect. At 33 years old, I have only the most distant and obscure memory of the time George H.W. Bush served as what was then the leader of the free world.

I thought of “41” only in the context of his son. I was and am a steadfast skeptic of the presidency that presided over a war in Afghanistan in which I served. Ten years later, I still grapple with the merits of that conflict, its effects and the place it will hold in our history. Though for all the doubt, I have few solid regrets.

I have many political and ideological differences with those on the political right. Having said this, I find myself acutely mourning the loss of a pillar of conservatism (from a different country no less). What I mourn is not the man himself, for he lived an exemplary life. I mourn the rapidly approaching loss of our greatest generation.

For most of us, the only evidence of this comes on Remembrance Day, where the number of Second World War and Korean veterans grows ever smaller. There will come a time in the near future when our collective human consciousness will no longer contain the beaches of Normandy, the hills of Sicily or the gas chambers of Auschwitz. More than ever, theirs is a generation that we can in no way afford to lose, but we’re going to.

Today, we see a rising tide of fascism, racism and cultural intolerance across the globe. In Europe and the country to our southern border, this tide has taken shape. Those who feel left behind or minimized look for belonging where they can, and a racial tribe can seem better than no tribe at all.

This is not intended as criticism. Through my own struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder and mental illness, I understand both the need to isolate and the need to feel safe.

Around me I see a society that has forgotten what it means to put service before self. This, too, is not intended as criticism. The “greatest generation” were no different from ourselves. They laughed and loved, hated and held grudges, and they made mistakes so great that we are still struggling to rectify them.

We call them “the greatest generation” because they lived through a time in which they had no choice but to put their own needs aside for a greater good. Through political and economic upheavals, their generation faced threats not just to themselves, but to the survival of our society.

Today, we face different tests to those of our elders. We face an issue of climate change that, left unchecked, will render it impossible for me to enjoy my retirement anywhere near as much as “41” did. We face a growing population, shrinking resources and a resulting migrant crisis that will only grow more dire as governments collapse and opportunities dwindle.

More than this, we are losing compassion for our fellow human beings with whom we share this declining climate. The post-Second World War order is under threat and the “kinder, gentler nation” that 41 spoke of might never come to pass because it has been left to our generation to make that world a reality. Is this fair? No.

It wasn’t a fair world that sent professional young men and women half a world away and asked them to give all of themselves, up to and including their lives, so that our society could survive and prosper without them. I belong to what some would call a selfish generation, and I’m as guilty as anyone.

We are facing a greater challenge than that of our greatest generation, and we’re going to have to be an even greater generation if we are going to make it through to a kinder and gentler world. We have serious problems that are going to require serious sacrifice. We are going to have to make sacrifices with the knowledge that we will not be thanked or repaid for our efforts.

The best we can hope for is that some day our children will take a day out of their busy lives to think about what was done and the lessons that we learned from the endeavour.

Dale Hamilton is an Afghan war veteran, infantry soldier and humanitarian aid worker. He has a BA in justice studies from Royal Roads University and works with the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative.