The Story Goes On

So today is the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl, and I find it somewhat interesting that it comes at a time when people who helped clean up the World Trade Center are beginning to die, possibly (most likely, in my opinion) due to the fumes they endured, with the EPA and the government's blessings, while working.

Is history circular? Is there any way to avoid the mistakes of the past? Because sometimes it sure doesn't feel that way. Case in point, this story about the new(ish) Canadian government refusing to allow coverage of the arrival of the 4 coffins enroute from Afghanistan (for those who might not have noticed amidst the "news" of Teri Hatcher hurting herself or Ryan Seacrest's feud with Paula Abdul, this past weekend 4 Canadian peacekeepers were killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb).

Yes, those men and their families deserve respect. But at the same time, the Canadian people should see that, they should know what the price is. Are they not trusted enough to see that and yet be capable of judging for themselves whether the price is too high or not? Are people so inconstant, so irrational, so selfish that they would turn their backs? If Afghanistan was the Sudan and 4 peacekeepers were killed there, would people clamor for Canada to pull out? Or would the overall gain be deemed worth the cost, high as it may be?

Questions like those need to be answered; they are difficult and demand dialogue. It is only through answering those questions that we decide what our democracies mean, what they stand for and what it is that we hold dear in our hearts. Maybe part of the reason why we find ourselves in countries that feel like they're becoming dumber and dumber is because the people in power no longer ask their citizens to think, to engage and to search within themselves for the answers to these difficult questions.