I remember my father

Today is Remembrance Day to pay tribute to all those who fought and died in the various World Wars as well as those involved in present day conflicts.

My father would've been 85 if he were still alive, alas he only made 73. But its amazing considering that he spent three and half years as a Japanese POW that he made it that far at all. He buried many of his friends with his own hands during those years and the affects lingered on well into his old age.

One of the greatest gifts my father gave me was that of tolerance. While he had a hatred for the Japanese that he could never shake, he never once tried to instill this hatred into me, in fact he talked very little about what happened to him during his imprisonment. Just the odd awful fragment of stories such as one about a prisoner being beheaded in front of him for the crime of stealing food.

I strongly believe that if more people followed my fathers lead and didn't pass down what are sometimes centuries old hatreds onto their children and grandchildren, we wouldn't have so many intractable conflicts such as those in the Middle East.