Current Temperature
-8.1°C
Dear Editor:
Nov. 11, at the Remembrance ceremony, we heard much and felt much — and deeply.
Thousands of our country’s men and women gave their lives; thousands of others gave their wounds. Dreams were crushed and futures mangled. For what causes? For liberty, democracy, freedom and peace. For what to annihilate? Fear, threats and despair.
Would they be proud of how we have used our freedom for which they fought and perished?
They know and we know that the battle for our hearts, minds and bodies continues. There are wars of many kinds. One is the war against vices.
At the very time when the use of tobacco is declining, other members of its axis power push forward to satisfy the careless lusts of too many of us. First it was e-cigarettes/vaping and now cannabis.
These are not the freedoms for which my uncle Robert Sheen died over the Atlantic Ocean in 1944, leaving behind his wife and three small children. Nor were they the freedoms for which my uncles, Cal Sheen, Harold Korsan and Alfred Korsan fought.
In their young and heroic minds they imagined a Canada which stood for valour, resilience, strength and courage. They probably did not know then of the sophistries of modern men and women who claim the rights to freedom with such statements as, “It’s my body,” “It’s my right,” “It’s not hurting anyone but me,” “It’s a free country.”
Yes, it was their body, but they gave it for our freedom. They didn’t say, “It’s my right.” Instead, they said, “It’s my obligation.”
It indeed is a free country, but we should never think we’re free to do whatever we please, whenever we want and to whomsoever we want. Unfortunately, vices will continue and no doubt multiply, and carry their own consequences; but we all carry the cost.
We pay financially, emotionally, spiritually and economically.
No more legalized vices must be our slogan, and with combined grit we must mean it.
RAY SHEEN
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Seriously how dare you! How dare you speak for those that laid down their lives even for those that made it home. You don’t get to speak for them and decide what they would be feeling. Don’t instill your hangups on this that can’t speak for themselves. If you don’t like the way this country is GET OUT.
MY FREEDOMS ARE NOT UP FOR NEGOTIATION.