Remembrance Day

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day.

I don't know what Amanda and I will be doing most of the day, but I know that 11:00 am, we'll be observing two minutes of silence.

Two minutes, even from every Canadian every year isn't enough.  Not compared to the sacrifices so many have made.  My grandfather was one of them.  He, like so many others before and after, travelled far from his homeland and fought the good fight.  In his case, it was against Germany in World War II, and he helped fight against evil.

The evils my grandfather fought against have been remade again and again in different forms throughout human history:  racism and intolerance.  He was forced to battle these evils in the guise of human soldiers following orders.  He had to fight his battles with guns and ammunition, and he paid for it dearly the rest of his life.

A few years back (somewhere between five and twelve), my family met up with an extended family member who was passing through, and he told us a few stories about my grandfather.  In the early days after he returned from the war, his family would wake up in the middle of the night to find my grandfather patrolling the perimeter of their farm as he had done during the war.  He wasn't able to sleep peacefully anymore.

A while after that meeting, my mom was scrapbooking old photos of my grandfather as a soldier.  She captioned one of the pages as "Our Hero".  When we talked about it, I made a comment that I hoped he would be the last one in our family.

At the time I meant that I hoped there would never be another war where members of our family would have to fight.  I've reconsidered that comment.  Maybe we won't become heroes doing so, but we all need to take up the fight against the same evils my grandfather fought against.  To quote from In Flanders Fields, "to you, from failing hands we throw the torch."

The men and women whose service we'll remember tomorrow have thrown us the torch.  It's on us to carry it high.  We won't need guns and ammunition, but we will need the same perseverence and the same courage my grandfather and so many others showed in their battles.

So when you're observing Remembrance Day tomorrow, nomatter how you choose to do so, please take a minute beyond your moment of silence and consider how you can continue the fight against the racism and intolerance that still exists out there.  I truly believe it will help those fallen soldiers rest peacefully.

Thank you.