Two minutes. At the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month.
Its a trifling sum to pay for the countless ranks of Canada’s sons and daughters in distant graveyards and under forgotten battlefields. But it is, remarkably, the only price asked for such monumental sacrifice.
Every year the dwindling ranks of veterans turn out in force to mark Remembrance Day. Every year there are fewer men marching, fewer men standing at attention. Fewer men who carry the weight in their hearts of seeing the horrors on the bloody shores of Europe, the frozen wastelands of Korea, and of the carnage of dozens of other places we seem to forget too quickly.
Lest we forget.
We are the last generation that will have known the veterans of the First World War. With time the same will be true for veterans of the Second World War.
The freedom we so often take for granted was paid for most dearly. The payment asked in return is modest; the debt is worth repaying.
At the going down of the sun, we will remember them.
We will remember. We will always remember.
Thank you.
- Rafael.
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