In Remembrance

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)

I don’t think that we remember enough the sacrifices made by those who have gone before us. Those who fought for our freedom and those who made great sacrifices for our lives to be what they are today. War is real and present and has been since the beginning. It causes heartbreak and sorrow that most of us will never fully understand. It is too casually overlooked as a news headline. Too many have lost their lives, so many have lost their loved ones and others have survived the battles but lost their innocence and happiness. I have walked and wept over the trenches of the Great War where my own great grandfather fought in France. I have visited the beaches of Normandy and the ships at Pearl Harbor. I can’t imagine the more recent tragedies experienced in Vietnam, Korea and now in the Middle East. It was fascinating to learn more this week as the 20 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall was celebrated. Such strange things can come out of war and politics. It is important to remember, to remember the lives and history that has shaped and continues to shape our world today. I have only mentioned a few of the wars in the past hundred years but smaller ones have been and are being fought around the world. Needless to say those larger and longer wars have altered the history of mankind throughout the centuries. So today, let us remember…