On this day I remember all who have died and suffered in war. Soldiers, civilians, men, women and children.

I remember all the wars of the past that have caused untold suffering around the world.

I remember all the wars currently being waged and the people in them, be they Canadian troops in Afghanistan, child soldiers in Somalia, and all the people caught in conflicts not of their making.

I remember that in a democracy the military is an extension of the people and therefor an extension of me. I am part of any decision of how and why to use our soldiers. I am a part of every death they sustain and every death they cause.

I remember that men and women have gone to war and go to war on my behalf. That they suffer greatly from the things inflicted upon them and the things they inflict on my behalf.

I remember that this act of Remembrance is a sadness whose intent is to make itself a distant memory.

I remember that war is an atrocity that we still find necessary in our world and in remembering it we aim to end that necessity.


“Perpetual peace is no empty idea, but a practical thing which, through its gradual solution, is coming always nearer its final realization…” - IMMANUEL KANT