“Wake up Harold!” Dr. Wetbrain yells at him sleeping on the couch. “Watching the news drew me to this thought. Harold, wake up!”
In our wicked world these days we have the absurd cruelty of Afghanistan’s new killing forces and those poor condemned and tortured Uighurs (Weegers) in China. And the list goes on. What’s wrong with these leaders? I would say lots! Are they drunk?!
Anyways, this is a needed comforting story to tell about a vicious battle between Canada and Denmark. Otherwise noted as the ‘friendliest war in history’.
This story is all about a desolate island rock, 1.3 kilometers in diameter named Hans Island, after Hans Hendrick of Greenland. No vegetation at all. An island positioned in Nares Strait, a 22-mile-wide channel between Canada and Greenland (which is owned by Denmark).
Since the 1930’s Denmark and Canada argued over the ownership of this lowly rock.
So, one day in 1984 Canadian Troops visited Hans Island and planted a Canadian flag along with a bottle of Canadian Club Whiskey.
Well, Denmark’s Minister of Greenland shortly after landed on the island and took the Canadian flag down and the whiskey disappeared only to be replaced with the Danish flag and a bottle of schnapps.
This battle continued back and forth for three decades. The empty bottles of alcohol were never found.
May 2018, sovereign on Hans Island was established where both Denmark and Canada own this island as a neutral zone where a weather station has been built and is run by both countries.
Now this rock island has a weather station shared by both countries and the alcohol trade tradition continues. The empty bottles are still missing.
“Harold, isn’t this the friendliest war in the world?” Dr. Wetbrain asks. Hung-over Harold just gives a thumbs up and curls up back to sleep.