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REMEMBRANCE DAY SATURDAY NOV 11/17
Another year has passed and on Saturday November 11th at 11,00. we pause to remember those who gave their lives that we the living in Dorchester can live in peace and harmony. Is it too hard to take a
few minutes of your time to remember and say thanks?
We may ask ourselves why is Remembrance Day important? History has a bad habit of repeating it’s self. If we do not learn from our mistakes they often comes back to haunt us We the survivors have a duty to take the time to say thank you to be able to live in a democracy that embraces a sense of
respect and freedom for all regardless of religion, ethnicity or country of origin.
It is too easy to forget the two world wars that ended 72 years ago. Six millions Jews along with millions of Russians Gypsies Homosexuals, Allied soldiers had their lives torn asunder.
November 11,1918 was the end of World War one, which raged on for four long hard years. Canada a relatively small country of seven million souls suffered the loss of 68,000 soldiers serving their country. To-day many years later we are honoring the fallen of not one war but two terrible conflicts.
Since the end of the Second World War we have born witness to conflicts around the world: Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel, Sudan and Myanmar.
I am troubled by the recent nightly Tv reports of the latest horrific ghost like images of the ethnic cleansing genocide of 600.000 Moslem Rohingya people fleeing their villages in Myanmar to try and
find a safe haven in Bangladesh.
The voice of the survivors of the holocaust that "Never Again" does not refer to just the Jewish people.
It is a reminder to us that we all have to be vigilant to speak out when we see man’s inhumanity to man.
Embracing the values and traditions of people whose eyes are a different shade or whose eyes are
oddly made is the Canadian way to live. We are not judged by our colour of our skin but rather our character.
Please take the time on Saturday November 11th at 11.00 to join with your fellow villagers to pay your respect at the cenotaph to those who gave the ultimate gift of their lives so we the living can live in
peace and harmony in Dorchester.
Len Lesser is an education counsellor in Dorchester
Len Lesser