GAZ@SIMPLYMEGA.COM

Today is, in my opinion, one of the most important days of the year. A day when we are able to to make a small gesture of thanks and rememberence for every one of the brave souls who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our freedom.

I find it interesting that some people regard the act of rememberence as an afront to peace. I find it quite it quite the contrary. If more people understood the sacrifices of war then perhaps we would live in a better world. The act of rememberence does not glorify war, it celebrates the human spirit. It goes beyond the politics of war and touches on each individual involved in the conflicts of the past and the present and recognises their bravery and the price they paid, whether they survived or not.

Rememberence is a reminder that our ‘freedom’ is not idealistic, it is not perfect and it is fragile. Over the last 100 years many people from many countries have fought and died in the name of giving us the right to speak our mind and be ourselves without fear of persecution. I have no doubt in my mind that in the next 100 years that those sacrifices will need to be made again. We need not take pleasure in the act of defending our freedom but we must always recognise our debt to those who do and remember those who have.

They shall not grow old, as we grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
we will remember them.

The events of the last week in the States is proof that there is always hope. It proves that ordinary people, the regular ones not the celebs, politicians, movers and shakers, can see past the differences of race, kind and creed and do the right thing. It proves that racism, hatred, extremeism and bigotry are not more powerful than the goodness, kindness and wisdom of human kind.

I’m not saying that the election of Obama is the saving grace of the modern world but it shows that for all the politics of fear, all the paranoia and suspician in the world that we, the people, can do what is right and take steps in the right direction.

Unlike the doomsayers. I believe that the human race can change for the better. I reckon that we can adapt to anything and we will survive both our own stupidity and the perils of our enviroment.

I just hope Obama doesn’t blow this – how he conducts himself and what he achieves could either propel us towards a better future or set the human race back centuries.

\m/