Clive Bibby: Are we worthy custodians of our proud heritage?

When watching the D-Day landing footages on TV recently, I couldn’t help comparing that generation who were prepared to die, as so many others did, in order to keep us free, with the current generation and wondering whether today’s young men and women would have responded to the call as their grandparents had done so magnificently. 

As one commentator said: “there can be no doubt that their effort on that day will go down amongst the greatest examples of self sacrifice in the history of mankind.”
The fact that it changed the course and ultimately the outcome of the war seems almost incidental compared to the heroism displayed by so many on this and other battlefields during the entirety of World War 2. 

While I have no doubt that our young people would inevitably respond in much the same way when asked to defend their homeland, I do have a few questions about whether they would be as prepared as their forebears were to fight in defence of our freedoms on battlefields on the other side of the world. 

There is no question that the world is a different place from those events 80 years ago and the modern inhabitants view conflicts that require a personal response as something they need time to think about before responding. 

Perhaps sadly, the fact that we feel the need to ask those questions is a reflection of how self serving and even isolationist, much of the world’s populations have become - particularly when they are faced with an aggressor who is threatening the lives of innocents in countries we bear no allegiance to or don’t have much in common with. 

In modern times, the call to duty is being answered by a response that suggests many of these conflicts are being regarded, rightly or wrongly, as somebody else’s problem. 

But is it realistic to assume we can isolate ourselves from a world that is no longer out of sight, out of mind ?

Which is somewhat worrying considering that future conflicts are more likely to involve multiple nations defending against an aggressor who has the backing of other powerful rogue states. In those circumstances it may not be possible to sit idly by on the sidelines watching as those nations who share our values are beaten into submission simply because they lack the military backing of even small fry like ourselves. This new environment will mean that a decision as to whether we get involved or not will depend on whether our own security is threatened and it is an unfortunate fact that most conflicts all have the capacity to escalate involving even those like us living at the bottom of the world. 

The modern world has become divided in two ideologically opposed blocs, one of which is totally committed to the destruction of the economies and defensive capability of the other. 

Consequently, in most future conflicts we will no longer enjoy the option of being able to sit it out irrespective of where it originated and being fought. 

So, our future security is inextricably linked to developing defence alliances such as Aukus with our traditional more capable allies who have strategic interests in keeping us safe.

But responding to these new truisms will mean commitments being made by our government that a significant portion of our population will vehemently oppose. 

Unfortunately, we no longer have the luxury to remain living in isolation.
We will have to be involved whether we like it or not.
It is in all our best interests to do so.

Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay.