Remembrance Day

If you're Canadian and you're reading this, you probably know of something called Remembrance Day (if you don't, you probably are too young to be able to read).

This year's Remembrance Day landed on a Tuesday and it marked the 90th Anniversary of the end of World War I. The holiday is all about remembering those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and those who continue to serve our beautiful country of Canada. Sadly, I think we're beginning to forget.

I don't know what it is but it seems as though people under the age of forty couldn't care less about our troops or our country. Canada Day may be our birthday but Remembrance Day is the true patriotic holiday. Maybe if they put drink specials on when 11 o'clock on the 11th day of the 11th month hits, young Canadians would care.

I attended the service held at the Butterdome and it was an amazing experience. Coming from a smaller town, I've never been to a service with nearly 7,000 in attendance! It was an unbelievable to see veterans, current soldiers, and even some South Koreans that fought alongside us Canadians in the 50s. However, the service made me sad...not only because of the stories of the horrors our veterans experienced but because of the lack of young people. I found that surprising since the Butterdome is on the University of Alberta Campus! The new trend since George W. Bush became president of the U-S of A is to hate war. I don't want to shove people into a stereotype but I'm going to go out on a limb and do it anyway. It seems the people that want to protest war and do all this peace stuff are the young people in schools. Therefore, many of them either refuse to wear a poppy or even think about our veterans on Remebrance Day.

Newsflash, peacekeepers. Everyone hates war. You're not proving a point by not wearing a poppy, you're disgracing our country. It's truly embarrassing. Don't you ever take what you have in this country for granted. The worst of your worries is if you'll have to scrape your car's windshield in the morning. Be thankful for what you have here. Many countries would be thankful for a piece of bread, you probably wouldn't touch bread without a little bit of jam. Many countries wouldn't even dream of an internet to read blogs like this everyday! They live in fear every single day and we don't have to because of the brave men and women who fought to make our country safe. Sure, crime rates are escalating in big cities like Edmonton but we don't have to watch our steps for landmines, do we?

Don't you ever take this country of ours for granted and you have no right to disrespect the men and women who have served and the men and women who do serve. I went to West Edmonton Mall for dinner after the service and a good 75% of the people were not wearing a poppy. Do you know what numerous countries around the world would do for a mall like that? All of these privileges, rights, and freedoms didn't just fall out of the sky into our hands. They were earned.

I can only hope that that mall fell silent for a moment at 11 o'clock.

Next year...wear a poppy, attend a service. Maybe your eyes will be opened up, maybe they won't but I'm asking you to be thankful for what you've got because it could be a whole different Canada. Don't say that you don't know anyone who has been killed in battle because you don't want that happen. Is that what it takes for you to respect these brave people? Wearing a poppy is not encouraging war, it's a symbol of honour and respect.

From World War I, to World War II, to Korea to our current peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, we must never, ever forget the troops that keep us safe.