The day after Halloween – Nov. 1 – like clockwork, the first Christmas ads of the season began airing, announcing the beginning of what will no doubt be an endless stream of can’t-miss deals between now and Dec. 24.
Outside our local grocery stores, perhaps you saw a volunteer holding a box of poppies, as shoppers scurried past to scoop up half-price Halloween candy before the displays were torn down to make room for sparkly lights, festive bows and other yuletide trimmings.
The local legion is now busy offering the small plastic flowers throughout town on the street and inside businesses in exchange for donations to help Canada’s veterans and their families.
We should all take time to purchase a poppy, or several, before those who served will be formally honoured at services all across the nation on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 11.
We have no doubt that the Quesnel cenotaph – located at the corner of Carson Avenue and Kinchant Street – will once again draw a large crowd come Remembrance Day.
And that’s good.
But for the next several weeks, there will be an endless litany of Christmas-related markets and festivals, films, concerts and parties competing for our energy and attention.
And, of course, holiday advertising.
Come Nov. 12, that’s fine with us – business is business, after all.
But for the next few days, it would be nice if our attention could be directed instead toward remembering our veterans – both living and gone.
Even if you don’t plan to attend a service on Nov. 11, why not take a moment between now and then to at least think about them?
It’s the perfect time to reflect on the fact that whether we will observe Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa – or none of the above – next month, we all have the freedom to live, believe and celebrate as we do, in large part, because of sacrifices that were made on our behalf, decades before many of us were born.
-Black Press
READ MORE: Veterans Way signage to be added to 200 block of Kinchant Street
