Lest
we forget the invisible wounds, there are always reminders to be thankful for
the sacrifices of our veterans and those presently serving in the armed forces.
Everyone knows a veteran; every family has been in some way impacted by war. Sadly,
loss is our common experience as humans. I have become very interested in the
songs that commemorate our veterans. Many that I find moving, deal with the
stress of war. As well, some great poems have been written about the experience
of war. In his album, “Ours and The Shepherds”, our friend, the wonderful
songwriter Jon Brooks, put to music two Canadian poems about war. One of the
poems, “In Flanders Fields”, was written by the WWI Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae,
MD from Guelph, Ontario. It is arguably one of the most recognized poems in the
world about the sacrifices of war. I’d never heard of Manitoba-born poet Frank P.
Dixon before Jon put Dixon’s poem “Cigarettes” to music. What a brilliant song that
is, made more powerful by Jon’s composition and delivery. While other soldiers
wrote letters to their loved ones back home, from inside the trenches, Dixon
wrote poems to his mom. “Cigarettes” was written shortly before Dixon was
killed in combat in 1918, at the age of 20. I, like so many other civilians, owe
my freedom to others who fought to achieve it. I acknowledge the profound
sacrifices of those men and women who gave their lives, or their well-being,
for my liberty. After I finish this report, I will head over to our local
branch of the Royal Canadian Legion to make our annual contribution; a token of
our gratitude.
Yes,
winter has arrived. Quit moaning and deal with it, right? The other day, I took
my little folding Porta-Bote out on the lake to run the gas out of the motor
for the season and I got caught in a genuine snow squall. I suppose I left the
dock and the little boat in the lake a little longer this year, as we were
having water pump problems that needed to be addressed. Great timing! Luckily,
that problem has been fixed, just in time for the lake to freeze. Ever the
opportunist, I shot plenty of pictures of my snow squall cruise, and even posted
a few with the caption “Where IS Everybody?”. The comments I received in response
to these pictures were varied. Some people agreed with me, suggesting that
boating season is not over until the lake freezes over. Others thought I was
nuts. As a former Buffalonian, I adopt the “might-as-well-make-the-best-of-it”
attitude towards winter. Just around this time of year, back in 2014, Lancaster,
N.Y., an eastern suburb of Buffalo, experienced a freak snowstorm that dumped six
feet of snow on that town in a very short period of time. Hopefully,
we won’t get a six-foot lake effect dumping like that up here.
Many
of us who are used to harsh winters pride ourselves on our heartiness. There are
polar bear clubs all across North America filled with people who think nothing of
plunging into icy water in the middle of the winter, wearing nothing more than their
bathing suits. Along those lines, I attended a charity event last Saturday in
nearby Kearney, Ontario that exemplifies the “winter-doesn’t-bother-me!”
attitude. On hand to entertain a large crowd of chilly onlookers with a very unusual
waterski show was a group of high-spirited young athletes who represent Canada’s
Water Ski Show Team, and who will also represent Canada in the 2020 World Ski
Show Championships to be held in Australia. It was highly entertaining. I
recorded the whole thing with my cell phone. So far, that video has been viewed
about 2900 times and is available to be seen in the video section here on the
Hunters Bay Radio Facebook page.
Thank
you again, to all the veterans and acting servicemen and women who are
responsible for protecting our freedom and our way of life. They deserve to be
commemorated more often than one day per year.
Jamie Oppenheimer,
Songwriter, Author, Blogger, Radio Producer, & Host has been writing THE
OPPENHEIMER REPORT every MONDAY since 1992 and has published the articles on
his blog since 2006. We are including Jamie's weekly reports, as a feature
of #HuntersBayRadio, The Bay 88.7FM.
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