As is tradition around here, I like to take a moment to mark Remembrance Day and Veterans Day and all of the other acts of remembrance that happen around the world now and at other times of the year. Remembrance of the end of World War I started as Armistice Day but later evolved to remember the enormous losses sustained in that conflict and others since.

While many of these conflicts serve as the backdrops to simulated experiences, whose tales of incredible feats and tragic ends, captures the imagination its also good to remember that this was not glorious nor glamorous. But we do remember them each in our own way.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

    That mark our place; and in the sky

    The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

In Flanders Fields, written by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae during the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium, is one of those familiar moments in many ceremonies that I’ve been to over the years. Poignant and contemplative.

Take a moment to remember today if you get a chance.