I’m also only 35, so if this comes off as ‘old man yells at cloud’ or a ‘get off my lawn’ moment, I’ve got bigger problems.

It was June 5 when I was driving through downtown Red Deer, past the Cenotaph, and I saw something… something that has sat with me ever since.

The next day, June 6, would be the 80th anniversary of D-Day – the fateful day the Allied Forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, where many perished.

The untimeliness of it, in line with said anniversary, only added to my compulsive dismay. Though it could’ve been any day of the year, or any year for that matter – I still would’ve been aghast at what I witnessed.

What I witnessed was three teenagers, probably 12-15-years-old, skateboarding in Veterans’ Park, where the Cenotaph is.

In fact, they weren’t just skateboarding IN Veteran’s Park… one actually did a jump onto the base of the cenotaph.

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QUICK ASIDE: Skateboarders historically have taken a lot of flak, and this piece is not an indictment of skateboarders or skateboarding as a whole.

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To say I was shocked (also appalled and flabbergasted) in the moment would be accurate.

I think the words out of my mouth were, “F***ing kids.”

(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

Even though I didn’t stop and go up to them, or shout out my window, that wasn’t fair of me to say.

First of all, these particular kids could very well be good kids, with zero bad intentions.

And it’s certainly not fair, nor what my words meant, to insinuate that all kids would do something – that I perceived in the moment – as ridiculously disrespectful.

It begs the question for me though, as we get further away in time from the ‘World Wars,’ how our collective memory of those events, and their legacy, will live on.

There’s no doubt it’s being taught in schools. I know a fourth grader who’s talked to me about it, therefore the ones I saw skating downtown, who would be in middle or high school, must also have some idea about what went down.

So where’s the gap in understanding the dos and do nots of respecting war-related monuments, and appreciating the things our veterans and their families gave up to fight for the freedom of so many?

Honestly, I can live with the skateboarding around Veterans’ Park. I returned the next morning, reflected, paid my respects, and did an inspection for signs that said ‘No skateboarding.’

I was a bit flummoxed to find there aren’t any, though I’m certain I’ve seen them at Cenotaph sites in other communities.

Let’s say, yeah, sure, it’s fine, skateboard in Veterans’ Park. But even so, surely there are countless other places you could go practice your kick-flips.

And let’s argue for a moment that the many, many thousands who served, in fact fought and died for anyone’s right to skateboard, sit, jump, stand, lean, eat, sleep or play a guitar right up next to a Cenotaph or anywhere they please.

Well… I guess it’s a matter of opinion whether that’s true or not. I mean, I’m not the Cenotaph or Remembrance police, and I’m also not a veteran. Just one man.

And again, skateboarders take a lot of doo-doo… this isn’t an attack on them.

However, my point is if there’s one spot, other than a cemetery, where one shouldn’t not be doing any type of recreational activity, unless it’s a ceremony, it should be that roughly 25 square foot base of the Cenotaph. That one small square, at the very least, should be off-limits. Sacrosanct. Inviolable. Hallowed.

(rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

The Cenotaph should be treated as sacred as a grave, marking the sacrifices given by 1.6 million Canadians who served in WWI and WWII, and especially the 111,000 who died in said conflicts.

Many more were wounded, of course.

I’m no longer mad at those teenagers.

Who knows… perhaps they were sick on the days the subject came up in school.

Maybe Gen Z and Gen Alpha know about these wars, but haven’t yet connected the dots to the ways we show our respect, and disrespect.

Or, and hear me out, maybe I’m out-of-line, and being a completely over-sensitive blithering nincompoop.

But I’ve visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa, I’ve attended enough Remembrance Day and Flags of Remembrance ceremonies, and I’ve interviewed enough Veterans about their experiences to know that I’m probably not such.

So to those kids: just do better next time.

Perhaps this can be a dinner table conversation starter for the Boomers, the Gen Xers, and even us MiLlEnNiAlS, to share with the youth of today what those sacrifices of yesteryear really meant, and why they should still mean just as much today — what with war still raging around the globe — as they did when they happened.

Maybe it’s a chance for the dedicated history teachers out there to put even more emphasis on remembrance and respect when these wars come up in the curriculum.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s an opportunity, as we helplessly watch the last of them gracefully pass on, to say once more, thank you.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The views expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of rdnewsNOW or Pattison Media. Column suggestions and letters to the editor can be sent to news@rdnewsNOW.com.

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