Thursday, November 11, 2010

"We all live in suspense from day to day In other words, you are the hero of your own story." - Mary McCarthy

Remembrance Day.  My daughter calls it a Remembrance Day Celebration.  I think somewhere along the way the lines got crossed - isn't Remembrance Day supposed to be a solemn occasion?  An opportunity to reflect and remember those who gave their lives for us?  What is there to celebrate?

My grandfather was a new father during World War II.  During the occupation of the Netherlands, my grandmother had to prepare meals, do laundry, and repair clothes of German soldiers who took up residence in their home.  My grandfather rode his bicycle to work every day and had German soldiers take target practice on the wheels of his bike.  They hid their expensive jewellery and items of value in pig manure so that the Germans wouldn't steal them, never said a negative word about the war and actually corresponded with some of the men after the war. Interestingly enough, my grandparents never told me that they were scared or that at anytime they thought their lives were in danger.  They simply did what was required of them and now, nearly 100 years old, they both reflect on those days.

My grandfather did not want to fight in the war.  Not because he supported what was happening but because he didn't want to die.  He had a new wife, a new baby and another on the way, why would anyone want to willingly march off to die?

At the Draft Office, if you didnt' want to fight in the war and you told the draft clerks, they put you on the list to be deployed immediately.  If you walked up to the man in charge and said "Put me on the front line, I'm ready to go kill some people!", more often than not they would find a reason not to draft you at all.  My grandfather, wise to this, marched up and said "I'm ready to fight" and they told him he had a "chicken chest" and was not military material.  It took me a lot of years to understand this concept - but the fact is, even in wars, no one actually wants to kill each other.  There is a lot of political grand-standing, but once you're the person looking in the whites of the eyes of another man, you get another perspective.

I don't know what it is like to live in fear.  I don't know what it is like wondering each day if it will be my last.  There is a lot I take for granted because of what other people did long before I was around.  I think these people are my heros. 

I don't know what it is like to have to leave my family and be deployed to another country.  I don't know what a machine gun feels like in my hand.  I am grateful for the people that do not have the comforts of home today so that I may enjoy mine.  These people are my heros. 

My grandfather, who had the sense of mind to preserve his life so that I could be here today.  He is my hero. 

To Sgt. Randy Baez and Specialist Brandon Lee to whom I write faithfully while they are on tour in Iraq, thank you continuing to do what many of us can not.  Thank you for sacrificing your life so that we can continue to believe in the rights and freedoms that we have.  You are my heroes.

Perhaps Remembrance Day isn't a celebration, but it is a time to pay homage to those who gave their lives for us and for those that continue to do so.   I hope that we never take our freedoms for granted because there are still people serving today to ensure that we continue to be free.