Friday, November 10, 2023 5 Brooklin Town Crier We will remember them. We are grateful to our veterans. I'm watching my daughter and her hockey team "battle." The game is a close one. We're up by two but the opposing team is strong. They're physical though their skills don't match ours. I cringe as our smallest girl is pressed into the boards and slides to the ice. For all of them, this is as close to a war as they will get. Probably most Canadian teens have only a superficial concept of the horrors of war. They see news coverage or listen to a veteran tell a story on Remembrance Day. If they watch war movies, it's glorified. Heroes fight alien invasions or monsters. It makes it seem justified to kill. Real war though is far removed from their world, on another continent. Except we are now a global community and those distant quarrels are closer than they think. She wondered about the recent bomb threats in Ontario schools. "Why do they hate us?" she asked. "It's not our war." After a lengthy conversation with her, she began to realize that Canada's amazing diversity can also bring with it hate and prejudice. Protests and bomb threats come from fear. Fear for friends and family living in the areas of conflict and fear that, like the pandemic, war can also spread. As I watch a player dangle and snipe into our net, I am thankful that our kids are able to just have fun at a weekend tournament In the U.S.. Across the globe, others their age are experiencing the unimaginable, fighting real battles, for their lives,not just a spot in the semi-finals. Prior to the game, while waiting for the Zamboni to finish cleaning the ice, our girls sang our National anthem. They have no idea what a privilege it is that they can be in another country and display their Canadian pride, without repercussions. May they someday truly appreciate this gift and the men and women who provide it. Brooklin Family Matters: by Leanne Brown We're So Lucky