In remembrance

War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children. Jimmy Carter

Remembrance Day.

Ninety years ago today World War 1 ended with the signing of the Armistice Treaty somewhere in the forest of Compeigne.

There are few alive today who remember that day. Too bad. Perhaps if more of us remembered the futility of war, the less likely we'd be to wage it.

I don't believe in war. Don't believe killing is a way of making lasting peace.

And yet, I support our troops who are fighting war today. They are there for me. I wish they'd asked me before they left. I'd have told them not to go. Not to risk their lives for something that will not stop the killing. May their sacrifice not be in vain. May they find peace.

Today is Remembrance Day. I remember.

My father. A man for whom 'the war' was an unspoken story. Hidden behind grey clouds of anger, he buried the war and moved through life fighting to claim peace of mind. When he died, the war died with him. May he rest in peace.

I remember those who left and never came home. They lost the battle of their lives.

I remember those who lost their homes, their families, their way of life when war tore through their towns and countries.

I remember the innocent victims of war. The children. The mothers. The brothers and sisters. The fathers.

We don't have war waging on our Canadian soil. Yet, war affects us every day. A boy from my daughters' school died in Afghanistan. A mother's son. A brother. A friend. He is gone. I remember.

When I googled to find out how many wars are being fought around the world today, I found the following:

"The United Nations defines "major wars" as military conflicts inflicting 1,000 battlefield deaths per year. In 1965, there were 10 major wars under way. The new millennium began with much of the world consumed in armed conflict or cultivating an uncertain peace. As of mid-2005, there were eight Major Wars under way [down from 15 at the end of 2003], with as many as two dozen "lesser" conflicts ongoing with varying degrees of intensity.

Most of these are civil or "intrastate" wars, fueled as much by racial, ethnic, or religious animosities as by ideological fervor. Most victims are civilians, a feature that distinguishes modern conflicts. During World War I, civilians made up fewer than 5 percent of all casualties. Today, 75 percent or more of those killed or wounded in wars are non-combatants."

Where is the peace in war? Immanuel Kant said it can be found. "Perpetual peace is no empty idea, but a practical thing which, through its gradual solution, is coming always nearer its final realization."

I remember those who died so that we could find peace.

May they rest in peace.

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. Jimi Hendrix

May we all remember love so that the world can live in peace.