The following letter was published by the Ottawa Sun on Nov 11th, 2023.
Leading up to Remembrance Day, I was seeing more and more poppies being displayed, and it’s making me fear that they are just meaningless ornaments now.
We say “Lest we forget” but it seems we’ve sure forgotten, especially considering how complicit we are through the nascent stages of the Third World War.
True commemoration involves more than just a poppy on our coat. We must be willing to ensure we don’t see a repetition of the past’s atrocities, and right now this requires us all loudly calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Lest we forget.
ALI SHAHAN BUTT
LONDON, ONT