No matter where I am, what I’m doing, what’s been going on in my life,

Today is a day that gives me pause,

Reminds me of how many people have given their lives so that I can live in the luxury of a country where I’m not worried about my basic human rights.

This isn’t the case in many parts of the world, and many people are still fighting for what we take for granted, 

here and abroad.

I imagine being a neophyte of sixteen, lying about my age to have the the chance to fight for me country,

To be a mature fifty year old, lying about my age for the same reason.

I imagine what must have gone through the minds of those young men and women who gave so much, many who never came home,

Those who came home altered,

Forever.

I see the poppy everywhere and think about Captain John McCrae, burying his friend and comrade in arms in a field so far away, 

dying himself shortly before the First World War ended. 

I see the world around me and I worry and wonder. 

How have humans existed so long and seemingly learned so little? 

This is why we need Remembrance Day. 

We need to learn about our history so that hopefully, 

we don’t repeat our past.