Not many people show their support of the Canadian military. Not many people scan the headlines every day, wondering what is happening in Afghanistan. Not many people listen intently in their history class, to better understand and to better learn about those Canadians who died. Not many do any of this.
Yet on one day of the year, we stand, and we spend a moment, a minute, in silence. Why? Because someone died for us. We endure the ache in our knee, the itch on our head, and we stand to remember. We stand, not proud, but humbled, by the undeniable fact that men and women have given up everything that they could have had, and went to give us the chance.
Some people don't agree with what they fought for. Some people believe they died fighting the inevitable, dying in vain. That doesn't matter. Why should it? Why should we worry about whether we believe in freedom, or control? They died for us. Anyone can go out and kill another human being. That's not hard. You can do it up close, or from a distance. It takes true courage, a strength undeniable, to stand in front of someone else, and take the bullet for them.
One of my favourite lines is this: "If you don't stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them." If you have no respect for those that choose to give their life for you, you are a person, that I am afraid this world will see too many of. But if you ask the veterans, those who survived the wars, the battles, then nightmare of combat, they won't force you to respect the dead. They've done their part, and they are secure in the knowledge that without their brothers and sisters, you would not be standing in front of them, telling them you have no respect for rotting flesh.
They won't hit you. They don't need to. What they do is their job, their calling.
I read a story once, where a man is having Christmas with his family. He goes to place a bag of trash outside, and he sees a soldier, in full combat gear, standing just outside the front door. The soldier is facing away from the house, hands ready on his weapon. It being the middle of winter, the snow is falling, gently. A perfect Christmas. And this soldier is standing on the man's lawn. In the cold, blowing wind. The man asks the soldier, "Do you want to come inside? It's warmer here." The soldier shakes his head. "Go enjoy your Christmas with your family." The man stares at the soldier, then glances back inside. "Why are you out here? Why stand in the blowing cold, when you could be at home with your family?" A small smile appears on the soldier's face, "My family understands. I'm standing here, enduring everything the world is throwing at me, so that you, and your family, can enjoy your Christmas, without fear, or worry. My brethren and I chose to keep watch, against all that will try to harm you, so that you can all live free, so that you can choose how you want to live your life." The man, bows his head, awed and humbled by the weight behind the soldier's words. He looks at the soldier, opens his mouth to speak, then closes it again. All he can manage is a quiet and heart-felt "Thank you." Then he goes back inside, and he enjoys his time with his family to the fullest, to honour the young soldier watching over him.
Soldiers choose to live a harsh life. They go through it, because they don't want you, your children, your friends and family, anyone else, to go through it. They travel around the world, helping others, setting the example. They see the children in Rwanda, the women in Afghanistan, the men in Iraq, and they remember why they chose to do this. Why they chose to spend time away from their families. They see the hurt, the suffering, and they try, in any way possible, to lighten the load. They do what they can, of their own free will, to make life easier for everyone else.
They don't ask for your respect. They won't ask for you to take time out of your day to remember them and those before. They don't have to. They know that others will follow, others will speak for them, because those others realize what the soldiers are doing for them. What they give up, what they offer to us.
Many people don't believe in God. They don't believe in Jesus. They don't believe that some one who's life is perfect in every way would ever step down and take the bullet. Some soldiers don't believe in God either. But believe in God or not, they are living examples of the teachings Christ and so many others left behind.
On the road to peace, there will be suffering. And until every person remembers the cost of war, there will continue to be suffering, and death. Every time someone forgets the price tag that comes from pride, theft, murder; there will be war, and death, and suffering. If every person on this planet knew the exact cost that soldiers pay for us, then war would end. Because no human being chooses that path, that cost, that life, unless they love those they protect. Deeply, intimately, and eternally.
The ultimate sign of love and devotion, is to lay your life down for another's. This, Jesus taught. This, soldiers teach. I pray to God that we will never forget this. If the day ever comes that all of human-kind forgets what those people paid, then we should all die in the most horrible way possible. Nothing else would be fair. These people gave up everything in their life, they put it all on the line, to give us the chance to make our own choices. To choose to learn, speak, read, drink, run, travel, worship, love.
Lest we forget. God bless the souls of the fallen. Hail the victorious dead. Respect those who gave up everything, for you. They died so that we may live free. They are the ultimate example of loving another. I ask that you do not disrespect them, from the bottom of my heart, I ask this of each and every one of you reading this.
To those of you who read this, and are one of those who fight for us, I thank you. From all of us Canadians, thank you. For everything you have done, and will do. Remind us why we remember.
Lest we forget.
Samuel Tyler Lubberts
