On the main road heading into Fredericton where I live, there is a car dealership with a Canadian flag the size of a house. Whenever we lose a serviceman or woman it flies at half mast. It flies at half mast more often than it should, and it's a sight that always saddens me. I'm usually silent the rest of the way into town, thinking not only the individual families who will mourn the loss of a son or daughter- often the same age as my own children - but of the greater loss to us as a nation. I am silent when I think of what they have given to us as a nation.
Just a quick perusal of BBC online or English Aljazeera, two news sources that I go to on a fairly regular basis, one can see how privileged we are as Canadians. We have so many freedoms to be grateful for. We have a democracy that works.
There is a YouTube video that has, I am sure, gone viral by now, and maybe you have seen it - in it a street interviewer, microphone in hand, is asking groups of young people questions like, 'Do you know what the Halocaust is?' and when they shrug and say they don't know, he presses on. 'How about Adolf Hitler, you know who he is?' More shrugs. More comments like, 'The name sounds familiar, but I don't watch the news.'
Now, I don't know how accurate a portrayal this is of our Canadian youth, but even if only a few don't know the answers, we, as writers have a job to do, a sacred calling, if you will, to make sure generations to come never forget.
So, I will end , inadequate as this is posting is on this awesome day, and say thank you.
Lest we forget.
Looking for a place to feel inspired and challenged? Like to share a smile or a laugh? Interested in becoming more familiar with Canadian writers who have a Christian worldview? We are writers who live in different parts of Canada, see life from a variety of perspectives, and write in a number of genres. We share the goal of wanting to entertain and inspire you to be all you can be with God's help.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Write Canada is more than a professional networking conference. It’s a safe place where beginning and intermediate writers can learn ...
-
Inspiration hardly strikes on an empty stomach. For this, and other reasons, writers must eat. And if you like minced beef (and you...
-
On Thanksgiving Sunday, our daughter and son-in-law blessed us with our first grandchild. My heart sings as I gaze in ...
-
Prediction, retrodiction, and malediction ... It's not even six a.m. here in EST, and already 230 people have visited the Post-Darwinist...
-
Recently, as an experienced writer, I was asked to participate in the evaluation of poetry. I felt ill equipped for the job but p...
-
by Rev Ed Hird One of the best loved Christmas Carols is the 146-year-old carol: Good King Wenceslas. In 1853, John Mason Neale chose Wences...
-
Hi from Denyse O’Leary on behalf of the Ottawa Christian Writers’ Fellowship, suggesting you join us April 2 if you are in the area, for al...
-
I'm writing this blog minutes before the clock strikes midnight. When you read it I will be collecting the final few memorie...
-
By Rev. Dr. Ed and Janice Hird Never underestimate the power of a praying mom. Has your life been impacted by a sacrificial mother w...
-
By Rev Ed Hird Worry, fear, and anger are the greatest disease-causers. They can literally eat us alive, from the inside out. The root of mo...
3 comments:
Linda, thank your for this timely focus. It is saddening -- and perhaps a little maddening -- to find the level of ignorance amongst segments of the younger generation of the significant names and points of history as recent as WWII.
Hmm, yes, we do have a job to do.
Thank-you for reminding me to ask my kids...sometimes its easy to assume they know, just because it seems they would.
I read your post on Remembrance Day and want to add a point.
Though I know those names or about those events, from history lessons or senior members of family or friends, people even in our generation do not truly know the horrors of war.
We need to remember.
Post a Comment