{"id":132,"date":"2014-11-12T11:02:33","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T16:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/?p=132"},"modified":"2015-10-27T20:57:15","modified_gmt":"2015-10-28T00:57:15","slug":"heroism-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/?p=132","title":{"rendered":"Heroism, then and now"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSome men are born great, some achieve greatness, while others have greatness thrust upon them\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0So wrote Shakespeare in Twelfth Night<\/em> .<\/p>\n

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\u2018Greatness\u2019 may take various forms, but I have been pondering of late the greatness achieved by heroism.\u00a0\u00a0 We may define a hero as one acts \u2018above and beyond the call of duty\u2019.\u00a0 We may speak of heroic courage (the usual sort of hero that comes to mind), but also of heroic sanctity, heroic perseverance in scientific pursuits, heroic devotion to one\u2019s children and so on.<\/p>\n

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We usually reserve applying \u2018heroic\u2019 to truly marvelous deeds, those that inspire awe.\u00a0 How could someone do that, we wonder?<\/p>\n

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It is with this sense of heroism that I ponder the deeds of our soldiers, past and present.\u00a0 I just heard an interview on the radio with a nonagenarian veteran from the Second World War, James Moffat, who survived the strafing and crashing of his plane, taking over from the killed gunner, then parachuting out (he was the sole survivor of his and the German plane) and landing in what he later found out was occupied Belgium.\u00a0 Amidst grave danger, he was rescued by the resistance, all the while being pursued by \u2018the Boche\u2019, at one point jumping out of a window, running through a field, being chased by soldiers and dogs, and losing his trousers on a barbed-wire fence.\u00a0 He spent months dodging the Germans, hiding, and running, eventually learning French and adopting a new identity, and spent the remainder of the war fighting with the resistance.<\/p>\n

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I did not hear if he was ever awarded a medal.\u00a0 I would imagine he may have been.\u00a0 But the point is that the \u2018call of duty\u2019 changes with changing circumstances.\u00a0 What would require extraordinary courage in peacetime (for example, running over the top of the trenches into heavy machine-gun fire, with almost certain painful and bloody death looming, or stepping off the landing boats on Normandy beach), was just par for the course in both World Wars.\u00a0 How does go \u2018beyond\u2019 such duty in those surroundings?\u00a0 I suppose by rescuing a wounded comrade when one is not required, or storming a German pillbox singlehanded; these are the men awarded medals for \u2018heroic bravery\u2019.<\/p>\n

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I am not sure I would even be capable of what then passed for \u2018normal bravery\u2019.\u00a0 But what men will do when necessity dictates is truly a marvel, for we, creatures made in the image of God, are capable of great things.<\/p>\n

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It is sad that the two soldiers recently killed on Canadian soil, Patrice Vincent and Nathan Cirillo, will never get the chance to demonstrate that kind of heroism.\u00a0 Their heroism is of a different order.\u00a0 They were normal soldiers, doing \u2018their duty\u2019, the one walking through a parking lot, the other guarding the War Memorial in Ottawa. \u00a0\u00a0It is Mr. Cirillo who has captured the Canadian consciousness, even though the \u2018guarding\u2019 in question was of a ceremonial order.\u00a0 Mr. Cirillo, we may presume, did not expect to die that day; his rifle, though real, was not loaded; he would pose for pictures with tourists; he may have been bored, although we may also presume vigilant, while standing on duty.\u00a0 No one, however expected someone to kill an unarmed Canadian soldier.<\/p>\n

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Yet in the mysterious designs of Providence, he was asked to make the ultimate sacrifice.\u00a0 Again, I say \u2018asked\u2019 with some degree of caution, for he was shot in cold blood, with little or no warning.\u00a0 His was a greatness \u2018thrust upon him\u2019.\u00a0 From what we know of Mr. Cirillo, he may have \u2018achieved greatness\u2019 \u00a0as a soldier if given the opportunity in battle, but, due to the actions of his deranged murderer, we will never know.<\/p>\n

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A writer to the Ottawa Citizen has declared Mr. Cirillo \u2018one of our great heroes\u2019.\u00a0 Now, I commend Mr. Cirillo, and, although not knowing him personally, I bereave the loss of his life.\u00a0 He seems to have been personable; he was handsome, fit and gregarious.\u00a0 He bore a child as a very young man, before even of legal drinking age, (he was 24 when he died, and his boy 6).\u00a0 I am glad that he and the boy\u2019s mother (whom I did not find mentioned in any of the media stories) kept the baby, and little Cirillo Jr. was born and raised (albeit without an intact family and, alas, now without a father).<\/p>\n

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With his youth and the tragedy of his lost life, Nathan Cirillo has become a focal point of our need for heroes in an age which so sorely lacks them.\u00a0 But we should beware projecting all of these hopes upon a young man who in all likelihood would rather not have died in such a random, needless way, and who lived, and apparently happy to live, a rather ordinary life. \u00a0 Heroism is something that we do<\/em>, not something that we suffer<\/em>. \u00a0Nathan\u2019s \u2018heroism\u2019 was something he did not seek, nor ask for, and his death more tragic than heroic. \u00a0Yes, he was a soldier, \u00a0a good and zealous one from all accounts,\u00a0doing his duty, but as a ceremonial guard, he did not expect to die a bloody death. \u00a0The soldiers on duty in both World Wars expected, and often received, such a death daily.<\/p>\n

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Nathan’s fellow guard was also shot at, but the bullet missed, and I bet he is glad it did so.\u00a0 I only wish his murderer had equally bad aim shooting at Nathan. \u00a0Fate is a curious thing.<\/p>\n

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Nathan Cirillo is a flash point for questioning our own response as Canadians to, how shall we put it, a \u2018changing world\u2019. \u00a0 It has taught us that terrorism, of a sort, even if from a couple of deranged minds (see my previous post) has now arrived on Canadian soil.<\/p>\n

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I take have taken my students on many trips to Ottawa, and the Americans amongst them are always amazed at the light security around the Parliament building.\u00a0 They ask, \u2018what, you can walk right up here?\u2019\u00a0 Even I find it hard to believe that, until recently, one could drive one\u2019s own car right up to the doors.\u00a0 The security guards at the front door were not even armed.<\/p>\n

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Times have certainly changed, and I will say one thing: \u00a0From now on, it will certainly take some degree of heroism to stand guard duty at war memorials or anywhere else in Canada as a soldier. You’re basically a sitting duck with an unarmed rifle, always wondering if you will hear the bullet before it hits. Other writers have commented on the irony of our disarmed soldiers being guarded by armed police officers. \u00a0Quis custodiet ipsos custodes<\/em>, indeed?<\/p>\n

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It is a sad corollary to this tragic tale that the Canadian military immediately asked its soldiers not to wear their uniform in public. \u00a0I can see some prudence in this directive, but it is still sad that when we are finally able to display heroism, to \u2018achieve greatness\u2019, it is denied us.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0A country should not capitulate to the enemy on its own very soil.\u00a0 Could you imagine the Roman legionaries doffing their armour and tunic because a barbarian killed a fellow soldier, and threatened to do the same to others? \u00a0As we sing in our anthem on this Remembrance Day, we must \u2018stand on guard\u2019 for thee.<\/p>\n

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But that requires another post on the role of the military in this changing world.\u00a0 It may no longer be a comfortable career move or resume builder, but, what it once was and should be again, an opportunity to stand and, perhaps, die for one\u2019s patria<\/em>.\u00a0 Dulce et decorum est pro patribus mori<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Nathan Cirillo did his duty, even if this duty went beyond what he intended, without his intent. \u00a0For all soldiers, the notion of ‘standing guard’ has now been raised up several notches.<\/p>\n

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Requiescat in pace, Nathan<\/em>.<\/p>\n

November 11, 2014<\/p>\n

Saint Martin of Tours<\/p>\n

Remembrance Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSome men are born great, some achieve greatness, while others have greatness thrust upon them\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0So wrote Shakespeare in Twelfth Night .   \u2018Greatness\u2019 may take various forms, but I have been pondering of late the greatness achieved by heroism.\u00a0\u00a0 We may define a hero as one acts \u2018above and beyond the call of duty\u2019.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":941,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions\/941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnpaulmeenan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}