On the 11th hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month it is presumed to be the time that we as a country take a moment to honour our veterans of wars great or small. What is so often overlooked in our remebrance is that the day includes all our citizen soldiers. We expend all our energies on the dead and fallen but we often overlook those who freely choose to continue the tradition of sacrifice on our behalf in service to our nation and are willing to lay down their lives today, tommorrow or next year.
One could argue that all war is immoral and one would not freely choose to enlist to become a soldier of this nation and that is one’s privilege. But let us not lose sight of the fact that that privilege was paid for in the blood, sweat and tears of others, and for everyone who would not take up arms to defend the interests or freedom’s of a nation there are those who freely chose to continue to toil so that others can continue to posture freely without ever having to burden their backs or sully their hands with the grit of soldiery and the horror of war.
3 comments:
Now THAT is putting it in a nutshell.
Very succinct. From your cousins in the south, thank you to the Canadian men and women who have ever stood watch with us.
We seem to be rapidly approaching the point where our own government will have persuaded enough of the citizenry that Canada isn't worth defending. That day, should it come, will mark our total abnegation of everything the veterans fought to defend. It will also mark the day that Canada has resigned from the community of nations.
But every year, that day seems ominously closer.
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