Remembrance

I will take this time to reflect upon Remembrance Day and its significance to me.

Remembrance Day. A day to remember. Lest we forget. A moment to remember years of bloodshed and sacrifice. We remember that our fathers bravely agreed to fight for the freedom of all people. And we remember this so that we might not find ourselves slaying each other again. And perhaps also we remember this time and that there was good reason for us to fight ... but it was not for fightings sake. It was for my sake and yours.

How many of my children will remember as I do, as my father does or as my grandfather did, the atrocities and realities of World War. It is becoming so far removed from our generations. A dusty page in a history book in the mezannene of a library. I am acutely aware of the horror, bloodshed and pain that marked the second world war. And that by choice. My grandfather (Papa), now dead, fought in that war as a tailgunner in a lancaster bomber. It was a horror he did not relish to revisit. My grandpa from my mothers side abstained as a mennonite pacifist and was unofficially 'interned' on Texada Island for the duration of the war. These people are dear to me and I know them and could see in their eyes that memory of a war that covered the globe.

Let us not forget and in so doing honour the memory of those who fought and died.

Lest we forget.