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By Eric Wilkins

Square. Every single possible patch

of grass is covered by a set of
soles. It’s a crowded scene. Everyone
here is assembled for Remembrance
Day to pay their respects to those who
have fallen in defense of the rights and
freedoms we enjoy today. A small child
breaks out crying nearby me, but is
quickly hushed, and she complies, as
if understanding the solemnity of the
ceremony. She is one of just a handful
of young people present here today.
A formation of planes flies overhead.
Why so few young people? The crowd
is comprised almost entirely of mid-
twenty-somethings and older. A shot
goes off. Is my generation oblivious to
the history that brought this day about?
Is it too much of an effort to leave the
warmth and comfort of their homes and
give up even an hour of our time?

The minute of silence has
come. The only sounds are from the
background noise of our never-sleeping
city. The silence is comforting in its
sombreness. In a strange way, I wish

Is a cold, damp morning at Victory

 

 

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Remembrance Day and today’s youth

it would never end. It shouldn’t end,
and, in a way, it never does. Every day
that we live, every day that we breathe,
every day that we even exist in the peace
and freedom we have today, we should
be acknowledging our brave soldiers’
ultimate sacrifice. The silence ends. A
parent, child perched on his shoulders,
brushes by me. The important part is
over; time for him to get his little one
home.

Remembrance Day was initiated
at the end of World War I. It is held on
November 11 of each year. The minute
of silence takes place at 11 o’clock: the
eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of
the eleventh month. It was at that time
in 1918 that the Germans signed the
Armistice in a railway car in northern
France, thus ending the First World War.
The day has since come to be a tribute
to all the fallen from every war. The
First World War, the Second World War,
the Korean War, any combat in which
soldiers have fallen in is acknowledged.
It is an important day. It is not a date to
be taken lightly.

The parade of wreaths is taking
place now. A voice in my head wants