It’s Remembrance Day here in Canada, and I feel like it’s too important of an event to let pass without comment.

However, I’m not really sure what to say about it.

I’m very lucky in that I don’t have a personal connection to war in any way. Neither of my grandfathers fought in WWII. No one in my immediate family (or extended, that I know of) has served in the armed forces in recent times. My great-grandfather — my mother’s grandfather — served in WWI, and some of my grandfather’s brothers served in WWII, but I know next to nothing about their service. I’ve never heard any war stories first-hand, I don’t have any letters from the war to cherish, I don’t have anyone to can tell me about how it really was.

Still, I remember. I care about this day. I love our life in Canada, and I know we have Canadian soldiers to thank for that.

The more I talk to my kids about the world, the more I realize how amazing it is that we live in a place where our kids can play in the street without having to worry about being shot at. Where we can send them to school for the day and not have to worry about a bomb falling on that building. Where we have clean water to drink and plenty of food at the grocery store. Where we can be friends with our neighbours without reserve, without having to worry about what we say or think or write.

Where we can go out for the afternoon and accidentally leave the front door wide open and have nothing bad happen to our house at all.

Canada is a great place. Thank you to everyone who fought to make it this way.