We live in an ever-shrinking world. The internet brought us images of the first bombs striking Iranian territory before the dust from those bombs settled. The U.S. government supplied us with videos of aircraft being launched from carriers and missiles being fired from destroyers and then photographs of those missiles striking targets in Iran.
As soon as those images appeared, we were able to witness on our televisions counter attacks by Iran drones and missiles hitting Isreal and other mid eastern countries where U.S. military forces were using facilities. We can’t be immune from the slaughter of war. It finds its way into every part of our daily life. On news broadcasts, on radio, on television, in newspapers and on the internet, we are bombarded by these wars.
Are we becoming immune to the violence of war? I might hope not.
But we must remain aware that this war with Iran is impacting and will continue to impact Canadians. The price of oil had already spiked on Sunday with the announcement that the Strait of Hormuz had been closed to shipping and that oil terminals had been struck by missiles. And those prices were immediately reflected at service stations.
The increase in the price of crude will have a positive impact on the Canadian economy as we ship more crude and natural gas from our shores.
The Canadian government has announced that there are 85,000 Canadians living in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates and Doha in Qatar and they are part of an ever-growing Canadian economy located in those areas. The U.S. has ordered their citizens from those countries to leave immediately.
After four years of war in Ukraine and after the killing of thousands in the Gaza war, the wars of Afghanistan and the multiple wars throughout Africa, when our home screens are often filled with video of body bags and suffering children, we seem to take war for granted.
This Sunday we begin daylight savings time. It was first adopted nationwide in 1915 by Germany to increase war production. Canada adopted Daylight Savings Time in 1918, but at the end of hostilities dropped the time change until the beginning of the Second World War.
We may wish wars to end and for a time where ignorance could hide the tragedies of war from our sight, but we can no longer hide from reality.
