Red Fridays...

Everything is a little foggy from the first few years when I was losing my eyesight. Heheheh. I think I may have written a bit about not dwelling on things, and that may be the very reason why my memory sucks. It happened, it's better, so get on with it. It is funny when I think about it now, that after having a variety of treatments for over three years, and then being able to see "better", such as it was...  that is when I actually stopped watching television. Isn't that ironic? That was way back in 2002. I don't really remember much of anything from that time period, which I decided to refer to as part of my "lost" decade.

One thing I remember from the news  of that time was just after we started sending troops to Afghanistan, there was an incident of friendly fire where four Canadian soldiers were killed by U.S. troops. I don't recall the whole story, but it seems to have crept back in to my line of vision recently. Last year I had picked up and started reading "The Book of War Letters", a compilation of letters written during times of war by (and to) Canadian soldiers, from the Boer War through WWI, WWII through to Afghanistan. All I can say is that everything I value about the written word can be found in those letters. Included in the collection are letters from Marc Leger, one of the soldiers killed in that friendly fire incident.

At the end of this past year, I was introduced to the artwork and photography of Canadian artist Silvia Pecota, featured in the 2011 Canadian Army Calendar, and at some point I Googled to find more information. One site that mentioned her artwork caught my eye. It was a blogpost from 2009 found here and featuring this video, which is part of a larger piece that apparently was never aired on television, for whatever reason. It was shot how I remember documentaries used to be done... should be done... a little raw...  It is from 2002... that first year in Afghanistan.

YouTube link.

Late last spring I also heard about "Red Fridays" for the first time. "Wearing Red on Fridays is a symbolic gesture to show fellow Canadians and our troops that we care and honour those who fought for our freedom, our peace, our resolve." I'm not one for "symbolic gestures" and being on the west coast, there are not many who would appreciate this gesture in and of itself.  Besides, half the folks here would have heart attacks if they saw me wearing red...   (But I did... on the days that I actually remembered it was Friday.) Winter however is a completely different situation. A Team Canada toque or baseball cap and gloves with the red maple leaf... red underwear or a pair of red hiking socks was the best that I could do. I'm fine with that... I know I care in my own little way.