"Obligation isn't one of the words I think about when Remembrance comes around, honor, integrity, hope maybe, but not obligation. I understand why people think "Oh, you're a cadet, you have an obligation to be a part of Remembrance Day.". But it's not, I think it's an honor to be part of the one day a year that all those men and women are remembered for, not only what they did long ago, but what they are still doing today. When you can be a part of something so great that it is hard to find the right words to describe it, it is not obligation I feel, it is a great sense of pride for my country. I raise my head proudly to be next to those heroes who I have long looked up to, I may not fully understand the hardships they have faved, nor the sadness that they have overcome, and I don't believe I ever will. However, I understand what they did for us. I understand the red poppy I wear is a symbol of those great people, those ordinary citizens just like you and me, who are lost to us forever and those who are still alive that will never forget. It's hard to believe that now, many years later, people are forgetting the great lengths that these people went to keep us safe, that only a small amount of those heroes from long ago exist today, after all they have done for us how can we forget? How can we forget that they left their families, their homes, to go off to foreign places and fight an enemy for our country? How can we ever understand waht fueled them to run over those hills into battle, what kept them alive when they lay in those trenches, the happiness they felt by being surrounded by so many different people from different places that had become a second family, and the loss they suffered. You shouldn't have to be reminded of the sacrfices they made so that our generation could live in peace. I am no longer a cade, but I will still walk proudly when I lay a wreath, I will wear my poppy over my heart, I'll still feel that lump in my throat and the tears in my eyes, I'll salute them, because, even though it may not be much that I have to give, but it will mean alot to them, to know that what they did has not been left unnoticed, to know that we still thank them for what they've done to keep us safe and free. I will repeat the vow "We will remember them" a promise I will always keep. Remembrance Day has always been a special day for me, ever since I was a little girl, except now I'm not watching from my dad's shoulders and covering my ears from the sound of the canons. I'm standing next to brave men who, on the outside may look old, but on this day, on the inside they are the same young men who came home to their loved ones. I stand next to men and women who wear their uniforms proudly, who are not afraid to weep for those they lost so long ago. If you could only learn the things that I have learned from those heroes that are left, then, on that day you would never forget. Novemeber 11th is a day that those men and women who sit and stand among us, thsoe heroes, are the reason why I am so proud to be Canadian. Thank you."