[OT] Rememberance Day thought

I'd just like to take a brief OT moment - my apologies to those who
consider
this a spam-o-gram. No doubt some will consider this entirely out of
place
and I hope they won't be too offended. Note that nothing I say below
should
be taken as an acceptance of the necessity for armed conflict nor as an
affirmation of the force of nationalism which has undoubtedly
exacerbated or
initiated many conflicts the world over.

We've just passed Rememberance Day (I guess it would be Veteran's Day in
the
USA) in Canada and as always, it was an appropriately cold November
11th.
This year, surprisingly, there were a larger than usual number of people
at
the cenotaph that I attended as well as the one in Ottawa at the Tomb of
the
Unknown Soldier. The Legion commented that they had an increased demand
for
speakers this year - it seems the young folks are actually interested in
what the various wars were about and what the old men with all the
medals
did.

I'd just like to take this moment to say my own thanks to the list
community
- to a group of people who, through gaming, preserve an interest in the
past
and the sacrifices of those who have gone before. Sure, it is just a
game
and a lot of the scenarios we game have never happened, but all the same
it
is part of keeping alive an interest in those events in history which
brought us to where we are today at such a high cost.

Because a Rememberance Day has just passed and because on that day many
of
us end up giving thanks for generations of service by people we've never
met, I thought I should also thank some of the people I have met because
their efforts were no less meaningful for no longer being anonymous to
me.
I'd like to extend my thanks to list members who are or have served in
their
nation's armed forces in some capacity - regular or reserve. Everyone
who
has taken an Oath to his nation to defend it and to lay down his or her
life
accordingly has something in common. Most of us are fortunate enough to
have
not been involved in the major wars of the 20th century - I myself was
lucky
enough to never see a shot fired in anger or any of the horrors of the
many
"not-wars" the last half-century spawned. It doesn't matter what nation
or
what service by en large - each of those who have done national service
put
themselves forward to defend their countrymen, their way of life, their
family and their loved ones regardless of their personal peril. For
that, I
salute you. 

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Thomas R. S. Barclay
Voice: (613) 722-3232 ext 349
e-mail: tomb@bitheads.com

Do not go where the path may lead, 
go instead where there is no path 
and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)  
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