Christmas in Kandahar ...

This past week I just finished reading Christie Blatchford's powerful tome "Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army."

I can only say that it is a powerful read ... it is at times devestating and painful, and at other times brutally honest in its descriptions of life on the ground in Afghanistan for the men and women who are serving in our Military.

As one who proudly calls himself a peace-nik, I have been recommending the book to many ... Whether we support the war or not, our men and women are on the ground there in active combat and they are owed our support ... After reading this book my feelings about the war haven't changed, but if we cut and run now, we will have sacrificed 73 of Canada's finest, not too mention countless Afghanis, and dozens of Canadian men and women who have come home wounded in body, mind and spirit, for NOTHING.

I feel strongly that THIS BOOK should be under EVERY Christmas Tree this Season ... EVERY citizen in Canada owes to his or herself, and to our soldiers to read Blatchford's words and hear the stories told BY the soldiers themselves. We are a nation at war ... we can't fool ourselves any longer and continue to ignore that simple fact.

This Christmas Season we need to pause as we pull up to our Christmas Tables and consider the families who have loved ones far from home, and those who have lost loved ones in battles far from home ... and as we whisper our prayers of thanks, let us also whisper a prayer for peace ... a just and lasting peace.

So, today I offer the first of three musical selections as my tiny way of honouring the soldiers who this year will mark Christmas far from home, and their families who prayer for their safety ... Looking back almost 100 years, we find inspiration for the gift of peace: