As the young people in our society come to the end of a school year unlike any before, and those in their teens and early 20s in particular wrestle with what the coming year or two will look like, Canada’s Second World War story has some useful guidance to offer. In the Second World War, over one million Canadians enlisted for military service, a remarkable level of participation, particularly given what those who signed up were prepared to sacrifice. Of the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who went to fight overseas, from all corners of the country and many ethnic backgrounds, the overriding characteristic most had in common was their youth. The good news for today is that the crises we must confront call upon us to help and to heal – both society and the planet – rather than to fight and kill.
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