I’ve been sick this week so unfortunately I haven’t been able to continue my series on the future of games in as timely a manner as I wanted. It’s clearing up thankfully so I’ll try to get into that next week. This is something else. I wanted to throw up a quick post today for my fellow Canadians to take a moment out of your day to remember our fallen veterans both past and sadly, present.
My parents drilled the importance of Remembrance Day into me from a young age and it’s always something I’ve taken seriously. I have family members (all sadly passed on now) who have fought in both world wars and I’ve always had a strong appreciation for what they endured to keep our country safe. War is a terrible thing no matter the age it happens in but I don’t think anyone from today can appreciate the abject horrors of being in trenches. Even a small taste of that experience would be enough to break my psyche in half, I can’t fathom what it was like for those who endured it for months on end.
I think it’s criminal that Remembrance Day is not a statutory holiday in Canada and I think it’s worse still when I see so many workplaces not pay it much attention or respect. My employer is open today but thankfully, the day is taken seriously here and we will be having a small ceremony to commemorate the fallen later this morning. Many of our past veterans are sadly starting to pass on now and we have so many new ones overseas in Afghanistan so I think Remembrance Day is more important now than it has been for a long time. So whether you’re at work, school, on the road or playing Skyrim, take your hands off the keyboard, pull over, stand up and take just a minute at 11:00am to pause and remember those who endured Hell on Earth so that you could be doing those things today. And if you aren’t doing something else, go downtown and shake a veteran’s hand. It takes no time at all, it means more to them than you know and it’s the very least we can all do.
Lest We Forget.