ust look at the front page of the paper or the news on TV. What is there? People occupying cities, countries rebelling against dictators and getting killed for their beliefs. We are lucky; we live in a democracy and we can protest without getting killed for it. We can sit in the road, or in front of our government house in province, state or country, and not get killed for it. There are those fleeing their country or going to jail for the crime of “speaking out”. We can speak out, we can march, we can hold up commerce and daily life for others because we are not happy.
But we have that right, don't we? We have the right to decent shelter, food and care. We have the right to freedom of speech. We have the right to protect what is ours. We have to right to refuse admission to our homes and property.
We abuse these rights.
We are now into November. Before we dive into Thanksgiving in the U.S. And Christmas preparations, let's take a minute to remember how we got those rights we so badly abuse. A minute. That's all we give them; a minute of silence. Oh yes, we celebrate Canada Day and Memorial Day and Fourth of July: yet we only give them a minute of silence.
Do you remember your fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers during that minute?
Do you remember the young men, and eventually women, who went to war and fought for our rights? Some of these men were mere teenagers. And they fought for us so we may have the right to freedom. They still are fighting for us. That news, however, is now relegated to page two of the paper, or maybe page twenty-two. So many are still fighting for freedom, and still dying. A minute?
Do you really have any idea what happened and is happening? Have you told your children what it's all about? I don't mean just talking.
Maybe you should take a little more than a minute to talk to your father or grandfather. Or perhaps the veteran who lives next door or down the street, or perhaps, sadly, under that bridge because our “rights” have failed him. Talk to the children of those who didn't come back. Take your children and families to a memorial museum. See the films. Read the informtion. A minute?
Take a little more than a minute. Please. We need to thank those who gave us the rights we so blatantly abuse.
Lest we forget.
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