Lest We Forget.....

World War 1 ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the11th month of 1918. It is observed in the Commonwealth countries since then, inorder to remember and respect the men and women of our armed forces who werekilled in the line of duty. The Treaty of Versailles was actually signed onJune 28th of that year.

In grade 2 or 3, when it was still a school holiday, I camedown the stairs one Nov 11th morning and wished my parents a Happy Remembranceday. I remember being devastated by what my father told me had happened in thewars. Until then, I was so naive, so green.

 As I got older, Ifound myself drawn to my curmudgeon grandfather. Mac was more complex than helet on.  Although he preferred not totalk about it, there were times he'd get nostalgic and I was lucky to be thereto catch him. He  told me stories ofmeeting fighter pilots in  WW2 , of whenthey arrived in Belguim and sadly, of never seeing them again. This must havebeen horrible for him, a young farmer from Dunchurch, Ontario.He told me, after the 4th or 5th failed to return, he stopped trying makefriends. In the midst of such a crazy, scary time, it seemed to me, he waslonely by choice. What an awful fate. No wonder he chose not to revel in thisdark memory.

The total number ofmilitary and civilian casualties in World War I was over 37 million. There were over 16 milliondeaths and 20 million wounded ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history. ( Thank you Wikipedia.)

In this deadly conflict, and the ones that followed it intohistory, the greatest victims were children. Innocent of any malice and totallyundeserving of the brutality brought down upon them. Childhoods were robbed.

How do we then teach our children, whom we want to protectwith the  fierceness of a rabid motherbear, about the true meaning of the sacrifices made on those battlefields,homes, and beaches?

I really don't know, but I do my best to tell my son aboutthe men and women he sees in uniform today. I explain that they left home, wentto countries across the sea and lost good friends, in order for their fellowCanadians to be free. I tell him about the elections, the free education andgood health care we enjoy and that not all countries are so lucky.

I just pray he understands.

Until then, this is as good as it gets:

"Soldiers went to fight and die for our country. Somejust went and died so they wouldn't have to listen to their kids anymore."Simon, 6 ~ Nov 1st 2012