The War That Didn’t End All Wars

This post focuses on the essay Elegy in Stone and how it relates to wars around the world. Is the world really as safe as we think or is it just false perception?

Elegy in Stone focuses on the monument and the piece of land that was given to Canada in thanks for their great assistance in World War I. Reading this essay really puts into perspective how lucky we are today to live in a country that is safe from war. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for all countries. Although Canada is safe from war now, there are still other ongoing wars in other countries around the world.

Elegy in Stone helps us to understand just how dangerous and destructive the war was. Although the area is now dedicated to be a monument, many traces of the war still exist there so people can understand what happened better. For example, trenches have been left the way they were and the surrounding area still has minefields in it. For us, this is the past and has since been turned into a monument, but for some countries, this is what their world looks like today.

An example of an ongoing war would be the war in Syria. This war started in 2012 and is currently still ongoing today. This war caused many deaths and even more injuries and displaced residents. The land has been scared and many residents have now become refugees in other countries. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like this war will end anytime soon.

The monument is described to have a pretty modest entrance with a thick forest following it-something that could be easily missed if you were just driving by. This is different from most other monuments that commemorate people or events since they are usually very lavish and decorative. But, I think this type of environment fits the situation very well because war isn’t something that should be celebrated. What we should celebrate is the people who were involved in the war. The people who braved the fronts and fought for their countries and sacrificed themselves. This is why the monument itself has names inscribed into it.

Since the major wars of the world have ended, it would seem to make sense that the world is a much safer place now, but is it really? It’s hard for us to imagine that wars are still going on in the world and that this is the normal for these other countries because that isn’t the case for Canada. We are lucky to be able to live in such a safe and relatively peaceful place, but this isn’t the case for everyone. Unfortunately, the truth is that there aren’t as many countries as we would think that are seen as “safe.”