The Price of Freedom
Appeared November 2002 at Menz.com
At this time each year we see small patches of red appear around us. Red poppies can be seen on people’s lapels and in stores across our nation. Once again, our country remembers the Veterans of our country, and the price that has been paid for our freedom. This price is still being paid for by our military serving both home and abroad.While the large majority of the losses were from the Great War, and the Second World War, the legacy still continues. Today members of our Canadian Forces work side by side with other countries, still risking their lives to ensure the freedom of others. At times the cost is their own lives. This revelation was most recently brought front and centre by events where we have seen, for the first time in many people’s memories, Canadians killed in a war zone.
Around the world our military forces are seen as a stabilizing factor in a conflict zone. The maple leaf is respected as a symbol of a nation of peacekeepers. We never refuse the call to arms, however, if that is the only way to bring peace. Shoulder to shoulder with other peacekeepers from around the world, we continue to serve.
How do we remember these brave heroes, the risks they take, and the lives they gave up for us? Around our country are reminders of the cost. Go for a walk in a local park found in your community. In many of these parks you can find a telling monument. These war memorials are a testament to the sacrifice paid for us.
In Halifax’s Point Pleasant Park there is a large monument called the Commonwealth War Memorial, overlooking the entrance of the harbour. From this port many have sailed, never to return. Around the base of this large structure are plaques with the names of many of the fallen. One bright summer day I sat back and watched just how many people actually took the time to look at it with any interest. To most, it was as if it were a tree, for all the attention it received. Only a few took the time to stop and actually read some of the names. Personally, I made sure to go up to the monument and read each of the names engraved. They died for my freedom. They died for your freedom, too; they deserve nothing less than to have their names read and to be remembered. To do otherwise would be to say that what they did doesn’t matter.
The soldiers that were killed were not older strangers, from somewhere else. They were our age, and from our communities. We knew them, or someone like them. We went to school with them. It is not so difficult to think that in another time, or in another circumstances, these souls could easily have been you or I.
I am more aware of this sacrifice, having served in the military myself. I wore our flag on my arm, and with pride. Now I proudly wear a red poppy to remember both the living and the dead. We should all do the same. Remember the price of our freedom. Lest we forget.