As I'm generally quite entrenched in the "make love not war" camp, I'm not entirely sure why Remembrance Day always strikes a chord with me, but it does.
When I first watched the following video last year (at, oddly enough, this time), I thought it was the start of a gag video. Then as you draw a bit deeper into it, it's hard not to see how touching it is. Terry Kelly, an Eastern Canadian singer/songwriter, wrote the song based on an event he experienced pretty much identical to that pictured in the video.
I think it's important to remember the people that made these sacrifices not for the "freedoms" that they defended, nor for the "evils" they kept at bay – but for the fact that they sacrificed everything for the belief of that. For the belief that they were absolutely fighting for something that was 100% right. Maybe they knew the people they killed were not any more evil than themselves, but rather just doing what they believed to be right, or what was forced on them – however, as to the masterminds behind those enemies, it was clear-cut; they were the bad guys and needed to be stopped.
It's interesting to apply this same set of ideals to today's world and wars. It's funny, in my eyes, how the people we will be remembering in years to come may not be our countrymen at all.
Culture Note: In China, November 11th is
Bachelors' Day, and is a day to remember all the poor boys that are
meiyou in the wife/girlfriend department (not-so-coincidently, the date has a crapload of the loneliest number in it). Though the unofficial holiday is officially designated for single guys, whinging about how there are 'no good ones left' is definitely not reserved for those with a
å°å¼Ÿå¼Ÿ. [
more info]
