Lest We Forget

A lot of my peers remember hearing stories from their grandfathers who fought in WWII. Neither of mine did. My dad's dad was too ill and my grandfather wasn't old enough. Had it lasted another year he would have gone. He paid for that as an adult. He went out east to find work and no one would hire him. Finally, a manager told him he'd never get a job in Ontario with his German last name as long as there were veterans looking for work.

It would be nice to believe that that kind of prejudice no longer exists but one need only look at the comments on news sites about the last name of the man suspected of the Fort Hood shootings or the violence experienced by Muslims after 9/11. On Remembrance Day I think it is important to remember that these men and women fought and died to make the world more just and less prejudiced. We should be thanking them by not judging others by their last names or what countries they come from whether it's Germany, Japan, Iraq or anywhere else.