By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Not much more usually needs to said on November 11 than what Lt Col John McRae wrote during WWI.
For the most part, many of us treat November 11 as a day off, and it is a different holiday for sure. It is midweek, not all parts of the country have the day off. I remember the first November 11 after I moved here in 1980 and being shocked everything was closed. In Quebec it isn't a holiday. I understand it isn't in Ontario either. One difference of course is that our malls only open at 11:05 am.
The more distant we are from war, the less it means to us. I know I don't consider it that big a deal but I do realize that because some sacrificed themselves during foreign and distant wars (no war has been fought in Canada since the 1885 Riel Rebellion) I can write this blog with relative impunity.
The irony of November 11 though is that it started to commemorate the end of the Great War (aka WWI) which was allegedly the war to end all wars. No war had taken as many lives as that one and really settled nothing other than setting the stage for WWII where 50 million were killed. Yet here we are in 2010 and war is still being fought. Face it, as long as there is man, there will be war. Greed, jealousy, testosterone and stupidity ensure that young men will continue to die for causes most of them do not understand nor from which they receive any benefit.
In the end though, tomorrow please remember those who sacrified themselves in the past.
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