June 6

 

I have very few photographs of my dad, most of them blurry 'snaps'.  This studio portrait is one of the few I have.  (The inset is one of those blurry 'snaps' taken when he was around 10 years old.)

For the past few years I've pulled this photo out, again and again, wondering what my father would make of the world right now.  He died in 1975, long before the mad tip into fascism began - again.

I wonder if he is cognizant of what is happening now.  Perhaps he's been re-incarnated into another life cycle and has no memory of his life here and his experiences in WWII.

Impossible to know.

Nevertheless, I wonder what he would make of the happenings going on right now.  If he *does* know, I expect he would be appalled.

He was never one to say much.  Generally when he did speak, we tended to listen intently, since it was rare for him to voice an opinion.  Somehow, the less he said, the more my brother and I paid attention.

In many ways he was typical of a 'Canadian'.  He and two of his sisters were born in Canada.  I think one was born in the US, and the rest were born...well, we don't really know.  His family's immigration papers said they set sail from Belarus, but they identified as German.  It was not 'easy' for him to enter the Canadian military.  His army records said that he was 'thick' when what they meant was that he had never had an opportunity to attend school.  Rather a couple of his older siblings made sure that he could write - or rather 'draw' - his signature and understand some written language.  

He was very much a 'go along to get along' kind of person.  He didn't much care if he was proved 'right' about anything.  But the last thing he was, was 'thick'.  

So, when he offered an observation or opinion, I paid attention.  He was one of those people who didn't tell you what you should think, but made open end statements which left me, at least, thinking, and to draw my own conclusions.

It wasn't until years later and after his death that I was able to begin to see how much he influenced me.

So today's goings on?  I *think* I know what he would think.  But I don't really know.

I know far more about my mother, who lived until age 90.  And many of the things she thought or opinions she expressed are not mine.  I got tired of 'fighting' with her and told her we were going to have to agree to disagree on something - at which she got frustrated.  But somehow I felt that dad would not have agreed with her, either, he just would not have engaged with her to try and change her mind.  Which was solidly set in her ways.  OTOH, dad may have been a moderating influence - although perhaps not.  

As I think about my parents, and take a gander at the world as it is now, I am constantly intrigued by human beings.  The more I learn about human behaviour, the less I understand 'us'.   

But I am well aware that on June 6, all those decades ago, my father was one of those lowly soldiers waiting in the boats off the coast of Juno Beach, about to make the mad scramble to the beach, not knowing what was going to happen, or if he would survive.  

I am still here - aware of history, aware of the current push to fascism, the fear mongering, the 'othering', the stoking of hatred of the 'other', the much larger number of people who appear to be willing to trample all over someone else they fear are getting something something gazpacho and willing to strip large categories of folk from any human rights at all.

So I will continue to say #elbowsUp

I will continue to say 'love not hate'.

I will continue to try to help people, not trample them underfoot just because some megalomaniac tells me that those people are the cause of all my misery.

I will continue to try to support others.  Accept them even when they are being targeted for no reason than their skin colour, or because they have a 'funny accent', or for whom they love. 

Because I cannot go to fight a war.  But I do not need to comply in advance with those who wish harm on others.  I can resist.  I can stand up and say 'this is not right'.

I can be my father's daughter, to the extent I am able.