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Theresa's Tidbits - Veterans deserve our thanks, admiration
Theresa Seraphim
for Spotlight
Do you enjoy having the freedom to do whatever you like (within bounds, of course)?
Do you enjoy being able to have fun with friends or family, without worrying about your gathering being broken up and people being tossed in jail, just for getting together?
Whether or not you like school, you get to go, regardless of your gender, giving you a strong basis for the rest of your life.
And for all this, you can say a heartfelt “thank you” to a war veteran.
But you’d better hurry. There aren’t that many former soldiers still around – at least, from World War I or II.
Still, Canada fought in the Korean War, and many of those veterans are still around. And today, our soldiers are in Afghanistan, trying to ensure that people there can partake of the same advantages we have – yes, even school, and yes, even for girls. It’s because of their efforts that such opportunities are afforded to everyone. If that doesn’t make you stop and think, let’s ask what this world would be like if Adolf Hitler had won the Second World War. Well, if you are Jewish, gay, or a Gypsy, or have a physical or mental disability, you might as well kiss your family goodbye, because you will be sent somewhere where nobody would ever see you again – until your body was found with others in a mass grave. If you are in any of these categories, you are (according to the Nazis’ eugenics belief) subhuman and not worthy of being allowed to live.
And speaking of eugenics, if you’re blonde and blue-eyed, you’re set.
If you’re not, too bad. You’ll be used as experimental material so the Nazis can find the answers to questions such as, How much cold can a person tolerate? (put them in freezing water) or How much pain is enough? All because of who you are.
But we’re not in this world, and that’s because of the people we are commemorating today.
We have been spared a horrific present (and, hopefully, a horrific future) because of their efforts.
Some of them paid the ultimate price so that we could live, in 2009, in a world of equality, hope, truth and freedom.
As we go about our activities today, let us all pause for a moment or two of silence – in thanks.
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