[OT] Rememberance Day

I'll risk being OT for the list (just the once, mind....). The 
following is a personal sentiment I'm sharing but reflects only my 
own 0.02. 

It is coming up to Remeberance day (3:22 mins off by my clock). I 
just wanted to extend my sincere prayers for each and every list 
member who is currently serving somewhere for a safe return (Los, 
John A, Magic, and any others) from duty stations. Keep your heads 
down, stay sharp, and get back in one piece. 

I'd also like to take this moment to thank them and the other list 
members who have worn the uniform throughout the last few decades, 
from whatever nations they may be from. The countries may vary, as 
may the uniforms, but the men and women retain a certain commonality 
of spirit and values (duty, honour, courage, comradeship, self-
sacrifice) worth honouring. 

And, most importantly, I'd like to remember people like my 
Grandfather who served underage in the "The Great War" and the 
Occupation and who, despite experiencing horrors my mind can't really 
encompass, managed to retain the understanding that the enemy soldier 
was no more or less evil than he was. He didn't come back from that 
war without deep and lasting emotional scars (and the physical 
effects of being mustard gassed) which we mostly didn't discover 
until he was in his 90s, but he managed to keep that side of the war 
from his family and from his Grandson when he was growing up. For 
sharing of himself with me and protecting me from the horrors until I 
was old enough to understand them myself - thanks Grandad. 

I'm not going to comment on good or bad or just or unjust wars. 
Rememberance Day isn't about that for me. It is about remembering the 
sacrifices of those who have gone before, on whose shoulders we now 
stand, and from whom we have received the torch and the task of 
making the world a bit better. It is about remembering the 
individuals, their stories, and remembering the lessons of the past 
so that we need not relearn them in the future. 

See you guys on the 12th. 

Tom B.