REMEMBER…
Here’s a short video for Remembrance Day. Please take 2 minutes out of your day to watch it, and to remember. Remember what’s important. Remember those who came before, and who laid the foundation for the life you enjoy. Remember your own stories, for they are the building blocks of your character, and your future.
Remembrance is one of the greatest responsibilities we have, as humans, and one of the greatest gifts. It falls to us to tell the stories for those who can no longer do so, to bridge the generations and enrich all of our lives.
Remembrance Day, for me, transcends the memories of war. I’m fortunate to have no direct memories of war or violent strife, only those that come to me through others. It’s the respect for those others, and for their stories of their efforts to build a happier, more peaceful and more decent world – whether on the battlefield or at home – that, for me, is at the heart of Remembrance Day.
That respect for our own history – told through so many personal remembrances – and how it shapes the present and informs the future, is also why I put so much of my time into promoting and working to establish a National Trust organization here in British Columbia, and across Canada. To build the infrastructure necessary to ensure that our communities can protect and celebrate the special places that are important to them, and through which our collective stories can be told, seems to me to be one of the best ways we can honour and respect those who helped to build this wonderful country, and to fulfill our role as citizens.
