With each passing year and the passing of veterans, the two world wars become a distant memory for most Canadians.

For those who think about the meaning of Remembrance Day as they pin on their poppy, it is a time to give thanks for the peace and freedom which is usually taken for granted.

Seeing columns of elderly men and women dressed in navy blue raincoats, medals festooned upon their breast, try to remember that one day, long ago, they were young people with hopes and dreams for bright futures and lives filled with promise.

At cenotaphs across the nation, we can only imagine what thoughts run through their minds as wreaths are laid and prayers said. Do they remember brothers fallen beside them? Do they remember the shrill sound of bullets, the blasts of bombs? Do they struggle to repress memories never shared with another soul?

Even today, Canadian men and women put their lives on the line around the world in places whose names to us may be nothing more than names in an atlas until our soldiers arrive to assist and bring peace.

Many who have come to the shores of our great country have experienced wars in far-flung corners of the globe. Some have seen firsthand the atrocities the rest of us only read about. They have known the unfathomable pain of war, of families ripped apart by bullets and missiles, of friends tortured and killed.

As they settle down to peaceful lives, who knows what horrific memories they carry with them as they find a new home on Canadian soil.

Remembrance Day is not just a time for us to be thankful for peaceful lives; it is an occasion for us to recall the sheer horror that war is when people take up arms against one another. It’s a time for us to remember those who have stood up to tyranny and oppression at the threat of losing their own lives.

During this week of remembrance, try to do more than be thankful. Try hard to remember.

– Rev. Dr. Michael Caveney,

Gordon Head United Church