My Dad shipped overseas from Halifax, Nova Scotia, in or around, 1940 to serve in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). I’m not even sure he was yet 20 years old. He was a farm kid who did what he thought was right. For me, his service history is scant because he didn’t want to talk about it. I know he served in England and in Denmark.

The stories of World War 2 have faded as chaos and corruption seem to have taken a strong hold in many countries.

The norms have changed.

Everything has changed.

The “war to end all wars” (WW11) is distant history now but the lessons need to be heeded.

In April of this year I visited France. We ventured up to Normandy where bunkers still remain.

We stood where so many young people died for the freedoms that we have today.

I wept at the sight of crosses, row on row, and cursed those who supported regimes/churches/governments of hate and divisiveness.

Here are a few pix taken at Normandy.

Things in the world have slid off the rails as the toxic ugliness of thinking some are ‘better’ or ‘more worthy’ because of the god they worship, the colour of their skin, or who they choose to love, but history holds the truth.

If a lesson is not learned then it will be repeated.

Unfortunately, we don’t need to go far to see the racism, discrimination, and claims of exclusivity. Many of which come from those who are privileged and hide behind their rhetoric of ‘love thy neighbor’.

Everyone should be afraid of a future filled with those things.

For every veteran, alive or dead, I give thanks for standing up for the freedoms we embrace and continue to enjoy today. It is hoped that the tides will shift back to a sense of normalcy –everywhere.

Wherever you may be tomorrow, please take a moment at 11am (the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month)… to remember. Think of your grandfathers/grandmothers, uncles/aunts, fathers/mothers, neighbors, friends… Know that Veterans are those who serve the community and country.

There’s a reason for Remembrance Day (or Vetrans’ Day as they call it in the US)…

Lest We Forget.