I know, Sunday it will be cold outside. Even if you have difficulty navigating your way to the Cenotaph ceremonies in your area, however, please take a moment – two minutes exactly – at 11a.m. – of silence to commemorate the sacrifices our servicemen and women have made and are making on behalf of the lives of freedom and relative prosperity we enjoy.
It’s little enough, and usually inspires us to reflect on the events of our now centuries of existence as freedom-loving citizens of free and prosperous societies that has been carved out of a morass of inequality and tyranny and downright iniquity that could not have been (mostly) cleaned up without the efforts of those who served in the hardest places.
It is important for all of us, those with direct memories and those with only the stories we have heard, to appreciate this particular history – the actions that made all the rest of our social development possible.
As it is with many families, ours is one with veterans we knew and loved and only stories of some we never got to know – a grandfather, for instance, decimated by injury in the First World War, who died long before any grandchildren made their appearance – that tries to comprehend the incomprehensible life tracks of the previous generations and support the efforts of those who serve today.
There are no more Canadian veterans of the first great war and fewer and fewer from the second and Korea, but those that survive, and their families, have lived with the impacts, and the benefits, their service made possible. We should recognize, even if just annually on Remembrance Day, the importance of keeping the flame of freedom alive, and from whom it has been passed.
Lest We Forget!
•The Smokies are away this weekend. Well, the team is, but the club has a fun fundraiser planned or Saturday, then play three of their next four in the sometimes cozy confines of their home barn.
Beaver Valley has a short trip to Castlegar and then a home game Saturday while the club tries to figure out what’s been going on in some recent blowouts.
Still no NHL, I am lamenting that less and less, so get your puck fix around the region. I guarantee the players and organizations in the local leagues appreciate your support far, far, more than Bettman/Fehr and their boys.
