Remembering Our Soldiers

I haven't posted anything new to the blog for a few days. Part of the problem is the topic I'm struggling to write about. It's the only thing around here people are talking about and thinking about. What do you say when six soldiers die in Afghanistan? Five of them are from Base Gagetown here in the River Valley area. Three of them are New Brunswickers.

I don't know any of them personally. The closest connection I have is to the young man from Saint John, Private David Greenslade. He was just 20 years old, the same age as my youngest son. He graduated from high school the same year as my son. They might even know each other. I heard the interview his parents gave. I don't understand how they found the strength to do it. His mother said all they can do now is to tell people who didn't know David what kind of person he was. How he was positive and full of energy. How he cared about his friends and how proud he was to be serving in the Canadian military. David was their only child.

This whole tragedy is almost too sad for words. Not just for the Greenslade family but for the families and friends of all the men who died. Their only choice in this and ours too is really to just carry on. That's what the colleagues and friends of these men are doing back in Afghanistan. The mission goes on. So does life. All we can do is try to get to know them a little for who they were and then remember them.