It is remembrance day in Canada.

Today is remembrance day in the nation I call home. Today, we take pause to honor and consider the heroes of our past, but also those of our present and future. Today, we take pause to consider the brave men that faced rats, disease, mud, misery, machine gun fire, and gas in the 1st world war. Today we pause to honor the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy, against all odds, and those who fought elsewhere all over europe. Today, as Canadians, we honor the men and women that served this country not only through our past, but in our present, and those that will serve our country tomorrow.

Today, we pause and consider ALL those young men and women who stood and continue to stand in defence of freedom. We pause in respect for the fallen heroes of our allies. We pause in respect of their accomplishments. Further, we pause in respect of those who continue to sacrifice, even today, in the face of evil.

We pause to HONOR the veterans of our nation, and the veterans of our allies, and our collective service men and women.

There should be nothing "happy" about remembrance day, but this civilian wishes you all a proud one.

a reply to: DeadSeraph
Ah yes, the traditional date.
Britain has got into the habit of shifting everything to the nearest weekend.
"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old".

In Flanders Fields:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.



We Shall Not Sleep:

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields,
Sleep sweet – to rise anew!
We caught the torch you threw
And holding high, we keep the Faith
With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led;
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red
We wear in honor of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught;
We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought
In Flanders Fields.

In Flanders Fields we fought.

I don't support the PTB and their wars. Didn't buy a poppie either. I do think of the victims of war and the children blown apart however, and the middle east contaminated with US nuclear waste. Things like that. Rwanda comes to mind, with Chinese machetes ordered by some rich bankers. That kind of thing. But I think of those things year round so don't dwell on them today either.