lest we forget

I'm a bit late on this post - I don't seem to find the time until the afternoon, or until much later at night.

Today is Remembrance Day. Let us remember all of the young men and women that died fighting for something they believed in. And let us remember all of the innocents that died too.

Canada has not had to protect itself since the War of 1812, but Canadians have always gone to war in support of the British Empire. In WWI it is said that we defined ourselves as a country by stepping up to help to defeat aggression in Europe. We did it again in WWII, Korea, Bosnia, Rwanda, etc. Now we have soldiers in Afghanistan.

I think a lot about this at this time of year, but I never wear a poppy until November 11th, and wear it only on that day. It seems that Remembrance Day has become Remembrance Month, which is not neccessarily a bad thing, but to me, diminishes the meaning of the day.

I learned the depth of that meaning from my Grandma, who lived through WWI, WWII, etc. She lost schoolmates and friends in WWI, and one of her most prized possessions was a letter from a family friend who wrote to her from the trenches in WWI. I have that letter here, and intend to give it to the grandson of the author. Grandma was a teacher, and lost a number of her former students in WWII. She took this day very seriously, and I learned from that. I remember all of that horror by proxy. As our Quebecois cousins say Je me souviens, although what they remember is not the same as what I am writing about.

What makes me very sad about this day is that we have not learned, and although we remember those who died fighting for their beliefs in freedom, we never listened to what those brave men and women tried to teach us - Never again!.