Happy Remembrance Day, Canada!
November 12, 2009

I sit on a plane, destined for Edmonton right now, in comfort alongside my tour manager Angela who is feverishly working on not only business dealings for me but also on things for her other job as a mortgage broker. She is choosing to do both jobs because she is a workaholic and can’t help but accomplish feats. It’s great to watch because she is tenacious and works with vigor for work and life that is enviable.

As weird as it sounds, it makes me think of what has given her the ability to do what she does. Yes, physically, her body is allowing that to happen but there is a history that we sometimes forget which has empowered us with the capability to chose what we would like to do for a living and have the privilege of and the benefits from the successes, and that is what our forefathers achieved in the previous two World Wars on behalf of us and our country.

In this day and age people, such as myself at times, have taken for granted the fact that many decades ago our country and it’s citizens rights and identity were fought for by brave men and women of Canada’s military. What sacrifices they made, what travesties they saw, the friends and comrades along the way they lost all in order for me and my fellow countrymen to have the right to sit on a plane and travel to practically anywhere in the world, to chose what we profession we would aspire to excel at and the ability to have as much success as we can create. To read a newspaper or article in a magazine with opinions and views which are to be heard and not judged, ridiculed and/or subsequently punished. To be able to freely walk almost every square inch of our cities and provinces without the fear of anything other than what nature can offer up and this freedom was created by the fight fought in the early 1900’s and again in the 1940’s by our brave forces.

Lest we forget.

Although many of those who fought in those wars are not around anymore, their memories and legacies cannot be forgotten. We are proud of our country and must recognize that every November 11th these fine ancestors of ours are paid a deserved tribute to and we pay our respects to them. As well as respect the current military and retired service members that have the courage of their convictions in the belief that their country and it’s inhabitants deserve their freedoms.

Explain it to your kids, to your friends, to someone from another country who doesn’t understand the relevance to this day and what it means because it’s importance is relevant to us all.

I’m not sure if everyone feels this way, or understands that they really should, but we owe all our freedom today to the War Veterans.

To these special and very important people, thank you.

Special thank you’s to veterans in my family: Ken and Ruth Fidler, Warren and Noella Sherk, Albert and Pat Penny

Aaron