Gill is back with a Remembrance Day message. She’s right. War sucks and we all can and have to do better.
Normally I am around to write a Remembrance Day article, however this year when the day comes I will be out of town. This year I am taking things in a new direction, and I hope you out there find this informative.
Two Worlds Apart
On October 24 1979 in a small Canadian town a baby let out her first cries, four days later in a distant land in the midst of a civil war a baby let out his first cries. One, we’ll call her Rose for now, felt the safety all around, while the other, let’s call him Jeff wasn’t promised tomorrow. The two would meet over twenty-five years later in a city, and strike up a friendship.
What Jeff Told Rose
Rose noticed that Jeff sometimes sported crutches, while other times rode around on a mobility scooter, and in a wheelchair. Rose, ever curious questioned this and initially was told by Jeff that he’d been injured severely in a jeep accident.
Shaken
I guess by now you should know that I’m Rose, that’s my middle name. I asked Jeff about six months in to knowing him what really happened. He told me that he had been born in Cambodia in one of the darkest times, and when he was three weeks old a bomb hit his house, he then went on to explain how by the time he crossed the border with his family some of his wounds were full of infection, and his finger tips were black with gangrene. Five days after arriving in a refugee hospital a Catholic priest was called to read his last rights, but somehow he pulled through to make it to Canada. Forty-five surgeries and countless hours of painful therapy later he’s still putting up a fight. When I heard his story I don’t think I slept very well for a few days.
My Thoughts
We need to be agents of change and peace in order to prevent things like this from occurring.