Every day should be Remembrance Day

The world of newspaper is a very strange one indeed. It is Thursday night as I write this. Remembrance Day isn't even upon us yet. But by the time this edition comes out on Tuesday, Nov. 13, Remembrance Day will be nothing more than another memory - pardon the pun - as the felt poppies that don lapels are put away and as the solemn ceremonies we participate in wrap up for another year.

It makes me sad to think that we only have one day a year set aside to honour and show respect to those who have sacrificed their own lives and fought so hard so that we can freely walk around, breathe the air and enjoy the freedom that we have to this day.

Really, shouldn't every day be Remembrance Day?

During my time in Halifax, I produced a documentary about the Halifax explosion which occurred on Dec. 6, 1917, at which time Halifax was booming, partly because of the new ideas, military and business demands brought about by the First World War.

As part of this documentary, I interviewed one of the survivors of the explosion, a wonderful and amazing man whom I will never forget named Wilfred Creighton.

Wilfred is 103-years-old and is as sharp as a tack. He lives in his two-storey house by himself and still drives his car, "but only in the daytime," he told me when I went to visit him one day last year.

He still remembers to this day every minute detail of that fateful day 90 years ago when he lost six of his relatives in the north end of Halifax.

As I sat in Wilfred's living room on the edge of my seat, listening to his story, I could not help but think to myself what an amazing and integral part of Canadian history that his story is - a story that everyone should hear and that nobody should ever forget.

After speaking with Wilfred, I met with Richard MacMichael, an employee at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax.

While speaking with Richard about the significance of the Halifax explosion and the importance of remembering such an event, he posed to me an interesting question: Like the survivors of the explosion, what will happen when all of our war veterans are gone? Who will remember them if we don't?

Like the Halifax explosion, the stories of our veterans are extremely important ones that must be perpetuated and told. If these stories and not passed down to future generations, they will be lost and an important piece of our history, and of ourselves, will be lost with them.

While it is great that we do have one special day set aside to honour our war veterans, we should constantly be teaching future generations about the selfless struggle and sacrifices that these brave men and women have made for us. We should be telling our children about them every single day.

After all, if the younger generation don't carry along the torch and remember and pay respect to our veterans, who will?

And there are still so many brave men and women today who are constantly putting their lives on the line to make sure that ours back home are comfortable, peaceful and safe.

Over the summer I talked to Brian Flynn from Freshwater and his wife Janet. I also spoke with Elaine Careen from Point Lance. At the time, all three were getting ready to head to Afghanistan, a place that is still in the midst of war. When I talked to these individuals, I couldn't help but admire and feel inspired by their bravery and desire to help others. All of them said that they were proud to serve their country and that they were ready to put all of their years of training to good use. There was no hint of fear in their voices. They were prepared to do what they had to do to make their country and the world a better and safer place.

Today, there are hundreds more men and women like Brian, Janet and Elaine that are striving to make a difference in the world - to help bring peace to places that haven't felt peace in ages, to help restore what war has destroyed. I hope that this Remembrance Day, and every other day of the year, people will take some time out to stop and think of these brave men and women and the sacrifices that they make each and every day for us and for their country. And I hope that we always pay tribute and honour those that came before them, those courageous and selfless veterans who fought so bravely and who lived to tell about it, and those who fought and died for their country. May they be in our minds and hearts not just on Nov. 11, but every single day of the year.

Lest we forget.

editor@thecharter.ca