Remember

Yesterday I was at a Rememberance Day ceremony at Huron College. It was a great ceremony although I realized that I couldn't entirely appreciate it. I cried, as I always do at these ceremonies. I thought about my grandfather who served as a pilot and signed up the day he turned 18. I listened to the names of those who had fallen in service to Canada, but most of what I felt was anger. Anger that they had fallen for nothing. Anger that there is still war that requires men to serve in uniform in countries that aren't their own. Anger that our world really hasn't been made any better by the sacrfice that they have made.
This morning I was able to take Mike Ricci out for breakfast. Mike is a core member at L'arche Daybreak in Richmondhill who I had the privilege of living with and growing in love with over the summer. After breakfast, my mom pointed out that if Hitler had won the last world war, there would be no place for those like Mike. Those who live life a little differently than the rest of us, but who seem to have so much more love to give than those who are concerned with work and making it to the top fastest. We wouldn't be able to grow in love with them.
Today I don't feel anger. I feel thankful. Thankful for the sacrifices that have been made. Thankful that there is a place in the world for those who live life differently. Thankful that we may not have a perfect world, but that there are those who are striving to make it better. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you to those whose names I do not know, those who have fallen to preserve something that they could not yet see. Thank you for making a place in the world for the men and women whose hearts are always open and whose love has the ability to change the world.