REMEMBRANCE DAY

How Remembrance Day Can Inspire Gratitude in Young Minds

Teach them well because a child must first learn before they can remember

Photo by Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash

On Remembrance Day, so many thoughts come to mind. When I see veterans standing or sitting proudly at the cenotaph, faces ravaged by time, I feel a shudder of relief run through me. I’m grateful I’ve not experienced the horrors they’ve endured.

As the number of World War vets dwindles each year, I feel sad for the ones left. There’s an ever-decreasing number of people who can truly understand what they’ve experienced and sacrificed.

Photo by author, Remembrance Day Ceremony, Coquitlam, BC, Canada

Every year, we attend our local Remembrance Day ceremony in Coquitlam. Occasionally, I’ll see a veteran quietly wipe a tear, and I feel humbled. These brave souls have seen and experienced things we don’t even want to imagine and are haunted by them to this day.

Many have lived their lives with undiagnosed PTSD, fighting invisible demons, unable to share their pain with family members, friends or medical professionals. We need to support our surviving veterans. After all, they are the people to whom we owe…