Remembering all year long

I spent an odd day yesterday, watching war movies. As one ages one looks at those movies with quite a different eye. The 'great' battle scenes with the blown up bridges and blood and glory gun battles seem to fade away as you start to wonder who these people were and where did they come from. You start to wonder how many made it home and in the long run did all the deaths make a difference in anyone's life?? War is not so easily defined these days. There are no clearcut winners, no right or wrong sides. Today's enemy is tomorrow's ally. How this happens is usually a question of politics and economics. Imagine, all those soldiers who died or were wounded were fighting for political expediency or economic gain, but maybe that's all it ever is about. What remains common is loss of life. So many lives snuffed out in mere moments and so many injuries carried through a lifetime of virtual anonymity. Soldiers rarely ask for any on mass acknowledgement of what they do but maybe we need to become a tad more public with our gratitude and not just once a year. Project Heroes ( www.projectheroes.ca ) is a group of three incredibly talented artists trying to say thank you to the men and women who lost their lives in Afghanistan. No one asked them to do this, they have no connection to anyone in the forces, they've done all the work thus far on their own dime and if you really really asked them, they can't actually tell you what moves them to keep going. And trust me it hasn't been easy. They do it because they believe it's the right thing to do. Odd isn't it, finding people who do the right thing, because it IS the right thing to do. Tomorrow morning most of us will just roll out of bed and continue with our lives. November 11th will just be a yesterday. But for the ladies of Project Heroes their quest to say thank you continues. Look at their site and ask yourself, is there something I can do to help. If there is, please do it. with a nod of great respect to our military, may you always stand between me and them, whoever 'them' may be, primeau