Sunday, November 11, 2012

Remember Remember the 5th of November. I Mean the 11th.

As long as we have the right to stand proud as free people, there will never be peace. That is the greatest misfortune of eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Our individuality will constantly set up barriers between you and I. But this is our duty, now. We puff out our chests and we stand for what we as individuals believe is right. No, not what we believe. What we know to be right and true, even if it is only true for some, or even for one. Reality is largely subjective and I am the optimistic little girl who still believes reality can be gentle and forgiving and merciful.

This isn't true for all of us. It can't be true. Not even for Canadians as a whole, who are celebrated as being the peacekeepers. Looking around at the hundreds of faces in the crowd today at the ceremony, I could see countless men and women in their fancy pressed uniforms, military, RCMP, police officers, all who must every day push aside the nagging question "Is this the day I will die in service of my country?" It isn't the land and sea and trees that they are fighting to protect, it is you and I and our decisions as free Canadian citizens that they are fighting for.

I will continue to be a pacifist. I will fight every battle I can with my words than my fists. I will forever disagree with brute force to accomplish political agendas, but because of those same military forces, I am free to express it. My life as I know it will be eternally in debt to those men and women who laid down their lives so that we all can live in a brighter world. I can forgive our old enemies from decades ago, but that will never be able to take away from my gratitude to those of us who apposed them. Lest we forget.

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