Today was Remembrance Day here in Canada and Veterans Day in the United States. In both cases, those who get that day off work will be celebrating it - by sleeping in, goofing off or playing games - tomorrow, since it fell on a Sunday this year. My wife is in that category, since she currently works for a bank, which will be closed on Monday (she gets the day "off" but since she's not paid for holidays as a contractor, it's more like a vacation day without pay). When I was an employee at the bank, it was one of the best holidays, because it felt like a perk to get the day off when so many others, including kids in school, didn't. Now I'm one of those many, every November!
Coincidentally, we watched Flags of Our Fathers today. Remembrance Day is most closely associated with World War I, but we're almost certainly past the point where any veterans of that war are still alive to be honoured in person (ending, as it did, nearly 90 years ago now). Some Second World War veterans are still among us today, but time's not on their side for much longer, either. When you watch a film like Flags of Our Fathers or Saving Private Ryan, it can be hard to believe that anyone could've survived that war, or that those who did could ever have gotten home and resumed their daily life again after witnessing the horrific sights on the battlefield. What a truly mad species we must be to keep putting ourselves into those conflicts with each other, or worse, to keep creating the need for them in the first place.
If you have someone in your life who fought in and survived a war (WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, Gulf War I or II, Afghanistan, ...) give them a call, or a hug, or even just a little bit of consideration this time of year. That's still less than one millionth of what they gave for you, when they were asked to.
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