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Editorial - Remember the past for our future

At times we seem to be at a point in our collective history when the world could easily teeter into complete chaos. The political situation in the United States at present is volatile at best.
Poppies

At times we seem to be at a point in our collective history when the world could easily teeter into complete chaos.

The political situation in the United States at present is volatile at best. The presidency itself under Donald Trump is a lightning rod for discontent as he rails against his critics, denigrating opposing viewpoints with reckless abandon.

With Trump at the helm there is a fear the domestic political situation in the U.S. is a powder keg which could explode.

And that has massive implications as the U.S., in-part through economic influence and in-part its military, has been a stabilizing influence on the world stage on the side of democracies.

Should its own democracy degrade under Trump, a possibility that seems all too real, the American influence could crack on the international stage. Under Trump the reputation is certainly more tarnished than it has been in decades.

Without the U.S. keeping the balance the potential for out breaks of serious military confrontations seems nearer than it has been in years, fired by growing racial and religious distrust around the world.

And that begs the question; how did we allow our world to devolve to such a point?

The question is made all the more poignant as we sit on the eve of Remembrance Day and the 100th anniversary of the armistice that brought the First World War to an end Nov. 11, 1918.

The total number of military and civilian casualties in the First World War I was about 40 million: estimates range from 15 to 19 million deaths and about 23 million wounded military personnel, according to online sources.

Let that soak in for a minute. That is more casualties in a conflict 100-years ago than there are currently people in Canada.

The death and devastation should have been enough to stop us from ever going down the path of war again, yet the Second World War would be just a couple of decades away.

And more conflicts have continued in the decades following the second great war, but we had seemed to have arrived at a time of greater sanity in the world. The USSR broke apart, the Berlin Wall crumbled and a brighter future was being hinted at.

But somehow that has evaporated and old prejudices and fears have the world on edge.

We need to crawl back from the precipice. We need to rededicate ourselves to making sure the sacrifices of those we remember Nov. 11, were not wasted. We need to remember they died by the thousands so our future could be one without conflict.

Remember our past this Sunday so that we do not repeat it.