Victory!

“The world must know what happened, and never forget.” » General Eisenhower

Thinking of all the individuals who served in the Allied Forces to push back the Nazi Germany and their cohort, of all the people who the Nazis thought were disposable, those that survived the concentration camps, those that served in the auxiliary services that kept the nation running, those people who fought against those wanting to obliterate our intrinsic rights to practice our freedoms.

Also thinking about my grandfather who served in the Philippine Army, to fight the Japanese in the Philippines. He served with distinction, walked and survived the Bataan Death March, continued to serve his country as the first chairman of the National Science Development Board (which was a precursor to the modern day Department of Science and Technology) and worked to raise the profile of science and technology and how this can help the Philippine nation move forward and develop. I think of all the selfless individuals in the Philippines who fought the Japanese covertly or overtly, the men and women who laid their lives to protect the larger population from Japanese oppression and I marvel at their bravery. I am not sure that I can be that brave or selfless.

We must never forgot what these people went through, what horrors happened. We must never allow this kind of hatred, bigotry and oppression to be experienced by anyone, regardless of the colour of their skin, race, creed, religious beliefs and political views.

I

Thinking of all the individuals who served in the Allied Forces to push back the Nazi Germany onslaught, of all the people who the Nazis thought were disposable, those that survived the concentration camps,those that served in the auxiliary services that kept the nation running.

We must never forgot what these people went through, what horrors happened. We must never allow this kind of hatred, bigotry and oppression to be experienced by anyone, regardless of the colour of their skin, race, creed, religious beliefs and political views.

I would like to think that we are more evolved now as an international population.

We must be honest about what happened in the past. We must be brutal in the discussion of the series of events. We accept that there was and will always be blame to assign in times of strife and war. War happens when someone wants to subjugate another, overpower them, obliterate their culture and mores; when someone believes they are better than others.

Thinking of all the individuals who served in the Allied Forces to push back the Nazi Germany onslaught, of all the people who the Nazis thought were disposable, those that survived the concentration camps,those that served in the auxiliary services that kept the nation running.

We must never forgot what these people went through, what horrors happened. We must never allow this kind of hatred, bigotry and oppression to be experienced by anyone, regardless of the colour of their skin, race, creed, religious beliefs and political views.

I would like to think that we are more evolved now as an international population. We must be vigilant about this. We must fight to maintain our rights, as international citizens, to be who we want to be, to believe what we want to believe and to express our thoughts and opinions. Yes, there should always be rules, because without them, our society would not have order. We must remember that these rules protect these rights that we enjoy and more often than not, take for granted.

But above all, we must remember that we must be guided by love and kindness. If we are guided by love and kindness, everything else follows.