November 11

A well known Toronto criminal lawyer, Lawrence Ben-Eliezer, writes:

November 11 will soon be upon us. As has been the case every year since the first marking of the date as Rememberance Day, it will be an opportunity to express our individual and collective gratitude for the sacrifices made by people who never saw a university degree, who never married, who never had children or grandchildren, who never had a career and who never really tasted the fruit of living in a free and democratic society. Instead, they left their family homes, served this country with honour and paid the ultimate price for their patriotism.

Approximately 19,500 hockey fans removed their hats, clapped their hands and sang the national anthem last night at the ACC with unusual enthusiasm because a number of war veterans were brought to centre ice as part of the pre-game ceremony. You can make a similar, though considerably quieter gesture, this coming Tuesday.

It seems to me that taking an hour from your busy day to go to the nearest cenotaph, or at the very least taking a couple of minutes to think about past and current Canadian soldiers who brought and continue to bring so much honour to our country, is a gesture that should be embraced with pride and zeal. If the sound of “Last Post” doesn’t move you to some appreciation of what it has taken to make your current situation possible, perhaps it is time to consider the value of what does move you to that state of mind.