The entertaining Newfoundlander...

There is an expression that relates to the long history of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who have fought in so many of the wars over the last several hundred years, the Fighting Newfoundlander. There is even (I believe) a statue of a soldier in Bowring park with this same title. I was strongly reminded of this by an email from my sister Mollie. She sent everyone in the family a copy of a post by Rick Mercer in which he describes his recent visit to Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

It must be noted that not only do people from my province make up a disproportionate part of our military, the top general Rick Hillier is form here as well. Mercer's story described how Hillier regularly dragoons entertainers from Newfoundland and Labrador to go over and visit the troops, this time on the front lines during Christmas.

Now as Mercer makes it clear, the troops are the ones who put their lives on the line everyday but it is also clear the he and people like Mary Walsh are also risking a great deal to help the troops to remember that people back home care about them and that they are not forgotten. So now along with the Fighting Newfoundlander we have the Entertaining Newfoundlander.

What is so important for all of us in this is that we are reminded that no matter what our opinion is of the war in Afghanistan, there are thousands of young Canadians who are risking their lives because that is what they do. Whether they are on foreign soil or back here in Canada, these young men and women have volunteered to risk death and injury in order to protect Canadians. We may not agree with the mission, we may be troubled by how Canada seems to be headed in the wrong direction militarily and politically but we must always remember that their are those who put themselves in harm's way for no other reason than that they are trying to protect us.