Fellow Countrymen

With regards to the recent incidents resulting in Canadian casualties and deaths in the War on Terror consider this little story I received of late.

One of my sons serves in the army. He is still here in Canada. He called me yesterday to let me know how warm and welcoming people were to him, and his fellow soldiers, everywhere he goes, telling me how people shake their hands, and thank them for being willing to serve, and fight, for not only our own freedoms but so that others may have them also.

But he also told me about an incident in the grocers' shop he stopped at yesterday, on his way home from the barracks. He said that ahead of several people in front of him stood a woman dressed in a burkha. He said when she got to the checkout she loudly remarked about the
Canadian Flag lapel badge the cashier wore on her blouse.

The cashier reached up and touched the badge, and said proudly, "Yes, I always wear it and probably always will."

The woman in the burkha then asked the cashier when she was going to stop bombing her countrymen, explaining that she was Iraqi.

A gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward, putting his arm around my son's shoulders, and nodding towards my son, said in a calm and gentle voice to the Iraqi woman: "Lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young man have fought and died so that YOU could stand here, in MY country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen. It is my belief that had you been this outspoken in YOUR own country, we wouldn't need to be there today.

But, hey, if you have now learned how to speak out so loudly and clearly, I'll gladly buy you a ticket and pay your way back to Iraq so you can straighten out the mess in YOUR country - that you are obviously here, in MY country to avoid."

Everyone within hearing distance cheered!