Remember. It's seems like a simple concept. Remember what has gone on before, so we don't ever go through something as brutal as a world war again. But can those of us who have not experienced a world war, who have not actually gone through it, actually remember it? Really, we can only imagine what life was like at those times in our history. We can remember the sacrifices made on our behalf, and honour those who made them, but it's a bit distant, a bit removed for us, the generations who came after the Wars. Our veterans, and those who were alive during the World Wars, are becoming scarce. Many have passed on already; those left are in their late 80s or early 90s. As I looked at our veterans, lined up at Remembrance Day services this year, all I could think of was this: When these men and women are gone, when that generation has breathed its last, who will carry those first-hand memories? The hard answer is: no one. What I fear is that once that generation is gone, once there is no one around to tell us what life was like during those wars, Remembrance Day will become a tradition of the past. We will no longer take time to remember what has been done for us. It will take dedication on the part of the Canadian public to ensure that does not happen. If you take a look back in history, there have been many wars that were extremely devastating. There were battles where men and women lost their lives taking place around the world, at various times, and wars that lasted for generations. After these wars ended, were there services like there have been here since the end of the First World War? Were there pledges to "Never Forget"? And were those vows eventually broken? If there were people dedicated to keeping the memory of those wars alive, so that they might not be repeated, and eventually those memories faded away, that bothers me. It means it could happen again - not just the fading away of memory, but the eventual call to arms to fight in another battle involving so much of the world. What we call the First World War, the Great War, was supposed to be the War to End All Wars. That was its name at the time. Yet, just over 21 years after it ended, the world was at war again. There have never been conflicts on that scale again in our modern age. Peacekeeping has been the duty of Canadian soldiers for decades now. But if we forget about those wars, if they become simply stories in history books that are easily put away, shoved aside, could we get involved in World War Three? The hard answer: yes. It's up to us, these generations in between, to keep Remembrance Day alive, to remember to never forget. It's up to us to take the torch. Let's be sure to hold it high.
