Fortifying 'Lest we forget'

Photo by Laurentiu Iordache on Unsplash

Freedom is not something you are granted by the grace of those who fought for it.

Are we forgetting what 'Lest we forget' means in this day and age?

Losing freedom or gaining it back comes with a price.

Today we honor those who paid the price for our freedom.

I believe we have become complacent, and for too long we have been taking our freedom and our comforts for granted. In the Western world, that is.

A freedom I believe we are squandering on crazy ideologies, divisive politics, and dogmatic science which we buy into. The age of information isn’t liberating us, it is suppressing us.

• Where did common sense, respect, and honor go?
• Why can’t we have discussions, and disagree without having hard feelings?
• Why is it that people are so easily offended and take everything personally?
• When did blaming other people replace personal responsibility?
• Who decided that it is perfectly justified to change history and destroy everything that our present was built on? Don’t they know that you can’t change the future by erasing the past? Don’t they know that when you FORGET it opens up the possibility to repeat the very past they hate and are trying to erase? Don’t they know you can’t fight HATE with HATE?
• How can you NOT SEE that it is not unity to only treat others with respect and decency if they are on your side, share your hate, your opinion, or ideology?

IT IS NOT ENOUGH
Lest we forget. It is not enough to remember one day of the year. It is not enough to remember those who paid the price for the freedom which we are not appreciating, worse, we are treating it with contempt. This is not just about the past.

This is about who we are being, as human beings, NOW. Which I believe is below standard. We can do so much better.
This is about every single person taking full responsibility for their own effort to be a decent human being.

You don’t just HAVE freedom. You need to EARN it, work for it to keep it. Or it will be taken away from you.

There is no one else to blame but your own ignorance and complacency when you wake up one morning and you realize your freedom is gone.

How did we human beings get so lost?

I know that that question is not very useful. A better question would be: How can we find our way back to our humanity and our freedom?

• Stop blaming, shaming, and hating. Hate is a worm that eats away all that is good and right.
• Stop taking everything personally and stop feeling so offended.
• Work on emotional hygiene, meaning, work on being less reactive, work on not getting triggered at the drop of a hat, gain some control over your emotions and practice using reason which brings me to:
• Think for yourself, investigate, question, go deeper. Don’t just repeat shallow opinions and ideologies, even if you think the source is reputable. There is no such thing in this age of mis-information. You can’t trust your favourite news channel anymore.
• Work on SELF-RELIANCE. Don’t rely on the government if you can. If you can’t, do what it takes to be as self-reliant as possible. At least when it comes to your own health, your mind, your values and ideas, how we connect meaningfully and what it means to be human.
• NEVER let FEAR be your guide, and never let anyone put the fear of death in you. Work on letting go of this fear of death if you live in fear. Get some guidance.
• STAND UP for yourself and for what you believe makes you a decent, compassionate human being.

FREEDOM is an inside job. Work for it every day. Appreciate what you have and never forget who paid the price for that.

That is what LEST WE FORGET MEANS and that's how we pay tribute to those that paid the ultimate price.