Test of Today - 11:11 & Remembrance

November 11th, 2025

Salam.

11:11 - make a wish. That’s a superstition I learned in university.

Despite knowing that 11:11 appears in time and in date so often that it wouldn’t be conscionable to presume that wishes, indeed came true if made at that time.

Before coming to university, I learned about the 11th of November as a vital date in recent world history. World War I ended on this day, over a century ago.

Canada and other “allied” powers refer to this day as Remembrance Day, a day to mourn the lives of veterans lost during war.

War - a battle between two or more parties, fighting for land, power, and control.

In Victoria Park, North Vancouver, Canada, there is a war memorial that is adorned with plaques denoting the dates and wars that Canadian soldiers fought in. World War I and II, the Korean War, and “Afghanistan” for “peacekeeping”. (North Vancouver Cenotaph | Veterans Affairs Canada)

Afghanistan, like Iraq, was not a war. These were invasions of sovereign nations, meant to disrupt and destroy all infrastructure so that a power vacuum would emerge, and the benevolent Western nations would provide aid and supervision.

War crimes upon war crimes committed on these lands and against these people, for no reason other than for a foreign power to exploit a resource they now need.

Sufficed to say, when I first saw the cenotaph, I was tempted to start a petition to pull at least, that plaque down. Except for the fact that I didn’t want to be targeted and attacked by the Maple MAGA’s for “defacing” and “offending” the veterans. Even though, the same veterans who risked their lives for this country are left with no support when they get back home from their “service”.

This generation understands the cost of war, especially students who have studied it for decades against their will.

I learned about the events that lead up to the World Wars and change to the world order that followed, multiple times and in varying levels of detail. Not to mention all of the Hollywood propaganda I was fed as a youth about the military industrial complex and how they were “the good guys”.

Except most of what we were taught and shown, was selective at best and censoring at worst.

It wasn’t until I was research for my dissertation did I learn that Hitler was inspired by the American settlements and the genocide they committed against the natives, the “labour force” they created with slavery. The founding fathers of the United States of America were role models to Hitler.

Why are their faces still imprinted on the side of a Mountain? Why are documented colonizers and white supremacists on every currency note and coin?

While I don’t condemn the government mandating federal holidays, I wish the days we were “celebrating” or “remembering” weren’t juxtaposing the other’s messages.

Many of the soldiers who were “conscripted” in North America were none other than the already disenfranchised groups and communities that were seen as less than. From the Chinese Head Tax to Japanese Internment Camps, to Residential Schools and our current system of incarceration, the powers considered people of colour less than their Caucasian counterparts, in value and in social hierarchy.

Among intersectional scholars, the more “labels” you have, the further apart you are from the ideal citizen and the powers that be that created that persona. Many who misunderstand intersectionality assume that the goal of this theory is for no one to be labeled at all. That is incorrect.

The basis of intersectionality is that the only way to be truly equal, to live in an equitable society, is to acknowledge the ways in which the systems have create privilege and disadvantages in race, sex, gender, sexuality, religion, and overall identity. It is not the aim for people to be “race blind” or apathetic to all issues relating to human rights, but instead to validate and implement ways to unlearn and reframe our own understanding of power and privilege.

The major obstacle is that those who have led privileged lives thus far, do not wish to risk their comfort.

It is easy to sympathize and give charity sparingly when you’ve never experienced hardship or rejection for parts of yourself beyond human control.

With the rise of MAGA and their attempt to coerce the masses into accepting their revisionist history, where they want to erase mention of slavery and the evil that their forefathers committed and replace that with a facade of glory.

It’s like Margaret Atwood was looking into the future by writing The Handmaid’s Tale, instead of writing a haunting fiction and thriller. I haven’t been able to watch past season two because it all got too real. I was seeing women and children die in real life on my phone, on a minutely basis. I couldn’t watch what was labeled as “entertainment” but truly felt like a warning for the times to come.

Thus, here we are. November 11th, 2025.

Women have had the right to vote in most Western nations for almost a century. Women’s health is still underfunded, under researched, and generally, regarded as a non-concern in political circles. Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. (Roe v. Wade | Summary, Origins, Right to Privacy, & Overturning | Britannica) Women’s health isn’t the only sector suffering due to incompetence and unwillingness to be humane; today Canada lost its measle’s elimination status. (Canada has lost its measles elimination status: Here's what to know | Vancouver Sun) This means that within the last year, Canada has failed to contain the initial measles outbreak that caused a resurgence of the illness in October 2024. For 27 years, measles was effectively eliminated from Canada, and any cases were contained from the public.

With the rise of “doctors” like Jordan Peterson and his buddy RFK Jr., who happens to be Head of the Health department in the US, its no wonder that Canada and the US are no longer safe havens from communicable diseases. (https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/youtube-removes-video-rfk-jr-jordan-peterson-misinformation-rcna90060)

So much for the civilized West, huh?

While today is a day to mourn soldiers and their “sacrifice”, let’s not forget the people that were pillaged and brutalized on the other side. When our government claims to work towards Reconciliation but at the same time seeks to remove the rights of the First Nations in the same breathe, its hard to convince yourself that politicians care enough to fight for what’s right, let alone tell the truth.

Yaser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Liberation Operation from the late 60’s to early 2000’s, also passed away on this day in 2004. (Yasser Arafat | Faces of Palestine) The name will trigger any Zionist, especially the world leaders that sought to paint him and Yahya Sinwar as terrorists, instead of the revolutionaries and freedom fighters that they hoped and prayed to be.

The victor will write out history for all to read. We’re told that we must learn from history as to not repeat those same mistakes.

What do we do when our leaders are trying to change history, right in front of us?

I don’t know, but I do know that once a regime starts banning books and censoring school lessons, history has shown that is when they start to bring out their own demise.

All this is to say, that I see no point to war or the military, except as a labour force and service for those in power that benefit. Since my youth, I have never seen a point to the wars that we claim are necessary for our “democracy”. I know that every time a life is lost senselessly, there is nothing that can be done to change that fact.

Anyone who wants to try to change my mind about the “need” for the military and the insurmountable number of weapons that could burn the planet a hundred times over, can discuss that with a mirror.

I wish for you the peace and comfort that you wish for others. If you don’t wish well for anyone but yourself, then, that says more about you, doesn’t it?

Salam, friends, I hope you make your wishes and say your prayers, for that might be our only savior.

P.S. Sorry for the gloom and despair, but it happens to be reality. It sucks for us but how much worse is it on those who can’t escape?

Disclaimer: I don’t use AI to write, research, or edit my content. I like to use dashes so please don’t fault me for that!