The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
As I took a brief jaunt down Main Street early Monday afternoon, hungrily awaiting the take-out lunch I was to retrieve, something caught my eye. I noticed that none of the five people I saw walking to and from the shops and restaurants were wearing poppies, even though Remembrance Day was just six days away. Maybe it was a fluke, I thought. Maybe I just happened to see the minority of non-poppy wearers all at once. That must have been the case. But on my way back to the office, brown paper bag in hand, I saw six or seven different people. I took a quick glance at their jackets. No bright red in sight. Now I was getting worried. I had just seen a pretty good random sample of people, with a wide range of ages represented, and not one of them wore their respects for our war vets on their chests. The next day was another take-out day for lunch (I have a lot of those... probably too many). The results were more encouraging this time, but still a clear majority of people I spotted were without the poppy pin. By now, all kinds of questions were filling my head. Is it no longer fashionable to wear a poppy? Are people too busy to pin one on? Are they oblivious as to what time of year it is? By far the most disturbing query to pop into my head was this: Is the immortal message of "Lest We Forget" beginning to lose its lustre more than six decades after the guns of the Second World War fell silent? Pinning a plastic flower to your jacket is a minor act, but its symbolism has never been more important. Everything each of us has in our lives comes courtesy of those soldiers who fought so long ago. Thousands upon thousands of them left the homeland never to return. Freedom simply isn't free. Decades later, Canadians continue to make the ultimate sacrifice, this time on the battlefields of Afghanistan. It's a controversial mission that many argue is not worth the cost, but each of our 2,500 brave troops in that war-torn country is as heroic as the soldiers before them. Wearing a poppy is but a tiny way of thanking all soldiers, past and present, living and deceased, for putting their lives on the line so ours can be free. I hope the poppy-less trend is short-lived. * * * The cost of war is unimaginable. When you bow your head in silence this Remembrance Day, think not only of past wars, but also of the Afghan conflict. Seventy-one Canadians have given their lives in Afghanistan. They are: Jordan Anderson; Glen Arnold; Raymond Arndt; Cole Bartsch; Colin Bason; Robbie Christopher Beerenfenger; Anthony Boneca; Stephen Frederick Bouzane; David Braun; David Byers; Darryl Caswell; Robert Costall; William Jonathan James Cushley; Kevin Dallaire; Matthew Johnathan Dawe; Paul Davis; Matthew Dinning; Christian Duchesne; Ainsworth Dyer; Andrew James Eykelenboom; Jefferson Francis; Craig Paul Gillam; Robert Girouard; Nichola Goddard; Francisco Gomez; Mark Anthony Graham; Richard Green; David Robert Greenslade; Nathan Hornburg; Vaughn Ingram; Christos Karigiannis; Shane Keating; Bryce Jeffrey Keller; Kevin Vincent Kennedy; Josh Klukie; Anthony Klumpenhouwer; Marc D. Leger; Simon Longtin; Donald Lucas; Myles Mansell; Matthew McCully; Kevin Megeney; Frank Robert Mellish; Mario Mercier; Robert Thomas James Mitchell; Keith Morley; Jamie Brendan Murphy; Richard Francis Nolan; Randy Payne; Patrick James Pentland; Brent Poland; Darrell Priede; Christopher Jonathan Reid; Raymond Ruckpaul; Robert Alan Short; Nathan Smith; Shane Stachnik; Christopher P. Stannix; Allan Stewart; Albert Storm; Darcy Tedford; William Turner; Jeffrey Scott Walsh; Lane Watkins; Jason Patrick Warren; Joel Vincent Wiebe; Aaron E. Williams; Blake Williamson; Mark Andrew Wilson; Timothy Wilson; Scott Woodfield. Local Angle runs Fridays.
