another rememberance (veteran's) day (ish) post

i know i'm a little early, and that's fine. there's nothing saying that i won't have another post on the 11th.

lately i've been asked by a few people about my opinion about people doing christmas decorating before rememberance day. to be honest, i had never really given it much thought until now. it had never bothered me. people get far too into the decorating. for all holidays too. i know people who even decorate for the olympics. but nothing for rememberance day. now, that being said, i don't think that it should be celebrated like easter, or halloween, or christmas. but it should be respected. rememberance day should be a sacred day. it's the day that we set aside to remember what our forefathers, and new to me as of last october, our friends, have sacrificed so that we can live unopressed lives. free to celebrate whatever holidays we choose to celebrate, believe whatever we choose to believe, live wherever we choose to live.

now, some people will say well, i choose to remember what jesus did for us. and that's fine, that's why we celebrate christmas. other people say well, i don't believe in war, well, that's you're perrogative, war doesn't need you to believe in it. it's real. the fact still remains that if it were not for soldiers we would not have the freedoms that we have. if it weren't for a bunch of soldiers in WW1 the british empire would have been taken over by the germans. at the time, our country was still very influenced by british rule. and again WW2. if not for soldiers the nazi regime would have dominated the world.

even now, a lot of people are against the fact that Canada and the US are involved in conflicts in the middle east. heck, even i don't like that there's a war going on. i'm actually pretty happy that canadian forces are pulling out of afghanistan. but the fact. how many of us are quick to forget the reason why we're there? how many of us see sept 11 on the calendar and think of it as wednesday? who remembers the date of the bombing of the train in london, or the subway in spain? to be honest, i don't. what i do know is that our enemy is absolutely content bringing the fight to our house. and they have no problems using deadly force against non combatants. i mean heck, 3000 people died on 9/11. over 6000 were injured.

that is why we have soldiers. they take the fight to our enemies. they fight so we don't have to. so their children, and our children don't have to. they pack up and leave their spouses and families behind. and a lot of them don't come back.

so, if i'm asked again if decorating for christmas before rememberance day bothers me, i'm going to say yes. yes it does. leave the santas and frostys in the basement, don't pull out the reindeer or nativity scenes quite yet. the only wreaths being hung should consist of poppies. let your christmas celebration start after we remember why we can celebrate.