Lest we Forget

As I stood in the rain at city hall yesterday, mourning the loss of the young lives who fought for the freedom we hold so dear to our hearts, I mourned too for the young lives of today.

We have gained so much since those young men, and I say men because until recently women were largely supporting the war efforts many miles away from the war arena. We no longer live in a world of hardship - we have medical care that allows us a longer life than ever before, we have all the modern conveniences we could want to take the hardships out of daily living and through technology we have made the world smaller, we understand and see more than our fore fathers.

And yet, we have lost. We have lost our sense of responsibility or selflessness for the greater good. As a people we have become more selfish. As a generation we have forgotten how to give back. How many of us, how many of our children would be willing to lay their life down for the good of our country? How many of us truly appreciate the freedoms we have that we would be willing to die for them? I don't think we do appreciate or value what we have... we simply expect it.

I look at my children and whilst I would never want them to have to risk their lives in a war, I mourn the sense of selflessness they will never know.

My tears mixed with the rain as I looked at the red eyed men in their old war time uniforms. As they mourned their lost friends and comrades, I mourned with them.