Remembrance Day 2006
It's Remembrance Day here in Canada, the day we honour the heroes who fought and those who died to preserve our freedom in the face of relentless evil.
It's a rainy day here in Toronto, appropriately mournful. These are a few photos from our local ceremony at the cenotaph in the park. There were many older faces and a heartening collection of younger ones; all stood patiently. There were prayers and bagpipes and some hymns, and the man on the accordion played tunes such as "Pack up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag" and "The Colonel Bogey March" and you could see the older faces smiling, remembering also the happiness of days gone by. There were two minutes of silence at 11:00 am, broken only by the random wailing of babies in the crowd too young too understand--but no one minded since the parents obviously cared enough to bring them there and try to begin their education as to why this matters.
Wreaths were laid, speeches were made, and finally the veterans marched out again and it was over, and the young ones' fingers could go get warmed up in the welcoming houses...warm houses, secured by the bravery of our soldiers, the USA's, Britain's, and all the other countries who unite against evil and totalitarianism, then and now.
Heartfelt thanks to all those known and unknown, who stepped up and answered the call, yesterday and today.
posted by Paul Rivoche at 1:10 PM
3 Comments:
It's good that the people who served in the various campaigns are still around to tell their stories but sadly as the years go on they number less and less. They'll always be remembered though !
Anonymous and Andrew, thanks for your comments.
I wonder where it's all going though; in the schools there's an element steadily pushing to associate "Remembrance Day" with "Peace Day", which it isn't. And so a generation of children grow up not truly understanding why this all matters still, in their minds it probably gets simplified into something like "be nice to a bunch of old people with medals" day. There's a smugness afoot in the adults who chould know better; a stubborn stupid refusal to deal with reality. People want to dream on, refusing to see that we are not yet in the new era of Universla Peace which they wish for; unfortunately, hope as they might, war and soldiers are still needed to oppose evil. Yes, evil! I said that bad, judgemental word, didn't I?
In line with that I am flabbergasted by the number of people I see around me who insistently believe that "ALL war is bad", "war is only because the military-industrial complex needs to be fed", etc etc etc ad nauseum.
No one reads history any more, and so, they have no context available with which to judge current events. At best, they are massively confused, then go back to their Playstations or Sopranos. Totalitarianism is one the rise again in the world, and folks, if you think it's all just Bad Mr. Bush's fault, or perhaps Mr.Blair's, you are simply dreaming.
When the dreaded spectre of Sharia Law comes a-knocking on YOUR door soon enough, you'll realize you were too late off the mark! The women will be shrouded in deathly, animalistic burkas, popular music and shows will be banned,the so-called "religious" police will monitor you, you artists and homosexuals will be outlawed or stoned to death, etc etc etc...
....and the new Dark Age will be here much sooner than you ever thought possible.
What did you say? Scaremongering? Nonsense?
Another version of this happened in Europe, so recently still, and so many millions died stamping it out, at such terrible cost. They, too, thought it could never happen there; that exceptions would be made it if it did happen; that Everything Will Be Fine. They couldn't have been more wrong.
Now,i t's a New Old version of that Same Old Tune. Evil twisted psychotics seek to impose their views on us all,a snake slowly strangling its victim while clamly reassuring it.
Eventually, the only question will be, just as back then, do we submit, or not?
But instead so many still seem to think that only talk, the application of Reason, is all that's needed...
(sorry about the above typos folks, but hell...it's the internet and no 1 carez nEway)
Post a Comment
<< Home