A local veteran teaches young people that war is not a cause for celebration

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Earlier this week, a local Beaver colony had a visit from a war veteran. This veteran was not the old and feeble stereotype they were expecting, but a man about the same age as their own fathers. He'd served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 22 years, doing duty in both Kosovo and Afghanistan.

He talked to the curious youngsters for about 10 minutes, trying to tell them what it means to go to war, and that the last thing a soldier wants to do is fight. Then he gathered them together for a 14-person "pinky swear'.

He asked the five-, six- and seven-year old boys to make two promises. First, that they would take two minutes on Nov. 11 to remember all those who had fought and died. And second, that they would never call remembrance day a holiday.

Remembrance Day is set aside to help us remember to teach our youth about the reasons for war, in the hope that they can find a way to avoid it in their futures. While it is inextricably linked to war, the ceremonies of Nov. 11 neither promote nor degrade the actions of soldiers past and present.

Whatever your views on our country's current military involvement, or the way the wars of the past are represented, Remembrance Day should be important to all of us. There is no one issue more important than the struggle for peace in this world.

On Tuesday, make the choice to remember what war has done to this world, whether by participating in a local ceremony or by reflecting in silence in your own home, and promise yourself, on all the other days of the year, never to forget.