Today is Remembrance Day, November 11, 2009. It is 82 years since the Armistice was signed in 1918 that ended the great war (World War I). Sometimes I think we all forget that there are people soldiers and peace keepers from all over the world still stationed in far away places helping to rebuild, fighting and maintaining peace or at least trying to. Which seems hard these days with what is going on in Afghanistan and Iraq since it is on the news every day. But sometimes we get so used to seeing and hearing news about bombings, fighting insurgents, and people being shipped home in caskets we become used to it - in a way it just becomes another daily part of our lives. I know this is the one day that most of us stop, remember and pay our respects to those who have died in action, peace keeping and/or are still far away from home involved in conflict and peace keeping missions. I always get a bit emotional on this day I guess because I am kind of sappy about it mostly because everything we don't want to think about or we forget about the rest of the year is all crammed into one day.
It's not that me or anyone else forgets the rest of the year about what is going on overseas because lets face it its rather hard when it is on the news daily but I think we just get so used to seeing it we don't really stop and think about it. On Remembrance Day we do stop and think about it. I personally think that most of us do think about our Canadian Forces throughout the year and not just today; that we appreciate and respect those fellow countrymen and women out there willing to put their lives on the line and whom do sacrifice their lives we just don't think about it out loud.
I know it is hard to watch people come home in body bags especially if it is someone you know - but I think my generation (Generation X) is pretty lucky. We have never had to experience a major war like WWI, WWII, Korea, and/or Vietnam. We have lived through the Gulf War, the Star Wars program, conflicts in the middle east and now the "War on Terror". However, we are generation who has not as of yet experienced hundred of thousand of soldiers, especially young men, dying. We haven't had to go to post offices and railway stations to read the daily or weekly list of dead, wounded or missing in action. We haven't had to read Time magazine and see pictures and names of young men, brothers, friends, boyfriends, lovers and husbands, who are never coming home. I count myself lucky that I haven't had to experience this and hope that I won't ever have to.
Canada is a country where our national pride is not shown in the same ways of our closest neighbor. We are a humble but strong and proud nation. We have long memories and pride in our peace keeping and war efforts throughout the years. Today is day where we come together as a nation to show our pride, to remember sacrifices, to pay our respects to those who didn't return home and to keep those who are still away from home in our minds and hearts.
I am extremely grateful for those people who have given their lives or even small portions of their lives to the armed forces and our country, to help others , to defend freedoms and liberty and we in Canada get to enjoy everyday and I know that I am not alone. I hope the men and women of our armed forces know that we as a nation are extremely grateful and proud of them for what they have done, what they are doing this very day, that we do think about them, (often) both those who have died and those who are still alive, that we wish them well, that we do remember their sacrifices and we hope they come home safe.
"In Flanders' fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row."
~Canadian Officer, Lieut.-Colonel John McCrae, M.D. Died in WWI
No comments:
Post a Comment