I often wonder what Remembrance Day would be like if even half the people who complain about it competing with Christmas, showed up at the cenotaph. From time to time I hear the question. Why don’t people show the day more respect than they do?

First, we have been protected from the ugly front lines of war. We have focused on the two World Wars and have not acknowledged the contributions our armed forces have participated in both as peace keepers and combat troops since WWII. The Middle East, Africa, Korea, and even on the European Continent. These acknowledgments are not the glorification of war. They are the acknowledgment of the sacrifice of others on our behalf.

Too many of us think of Remembrance Day as a holiday instead of a day of sober reflection. When we think back we have no comparison to the stark realities of what our forefathers and mothers went through. The war was not just the sacrifice of time and lives altered or destroyed.

It was the catalyst for the social safety net we have today as veterans and citizens were determined not to return to the old ways. We often fail to realize the advances in society were the byproducts of change that came about in hope of never going back to conflict being the only solution to our problems.

Think of it this way the sacrifices of the living and those who died shaped the progressive nation we live in today. For the life they gave us we can never pay back what successive generations really owe them the veterans of time gone by and those in uniform today. It should be considered an honor to go to the cenotaph and say thank you for you service.

It is time we as a polarized lot came together and demonstrated our respect for something. And paying due respect for our veterans past and present is a good place to start.

Fred Steele