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Today I am thankful for Canada.

Remembrance Day is a time when all Canadians have the opportunity to reflect on the value of freedom and the sacrifices of those who fought for the peace and freedom we are blessed with in our country. We are so fortunate to live in a nation where we can feel safe leaving our home, speak our minds without fear, practice any religion without condemnation, petition our concerns before our politicians, travel wherever and whenever we want, and are entitled to a comprehensive list of rights that are honoured and preserved by the government. Of course our country, government and all citizens of Canada are not perfect. In fact, they're far from it! However, at least we live in a place where we have an opportunity to work towards improvement and growth without fearing for our lives and the well being of our family. Without the freedom that others have fought for on our behalf, there's no telling if we would enjoy this same quality of living today.
I want to share a few stories with you that have helped put our freedom into perspective for me:
One morning I woke up to a loud explosion that shook the walls of my house. I was so suddenly woken up that for a while I was convinced I had imagined that in my half asleep state. When I got up I eventually asked one of my roomates if she heard something strange or maybe felt the walls shake like I had. Good thing I asked because she was doubting it happened too! It turns out there was an explosion at a nearby plant and even though it was roughly a kilometer away, it was fairly startling! A few were injured but no one was killed in the explosion, thankfully. It made me realize that some people, too many, have this experience of explosions and bombs nearly every day! Not only that, they go about their day never knowing if these explosions are going to take their business, their home, their life or the life of a loved one. I can't even imagine living in that horror of constantly hearing explosions but never knowing when or where they will happen!
I remember the story someone shared with me about her experience speaking with Afghans about the war and the role of American and Canadian soldiers. One woman had lost her son during an air raid back when the USA first invaded Afghanistan in 2001. She asked the woman if she was angry at the western soldiers for causing this great loss in her family. Her response was an absolute no. Despite the tragic and unjust death of her son she was thankful for the soldiers because they were fighting for her people; her son's death was a sacrifice made on behalf of the greater good for her country. I'm thankful to live in a country where we aren't required to make such enormous sacrifices simply to battle for the rights we are entitled to as humans.
Finally, I think of women around the world who are oppressed, discriminated against and abused simply based on their gender. They are denied access to education, are restricted in their day to day activities and will always be viewed as the lesser gender, some even going as far to considering them only slightly above the most disliked animals. I cannot imagine being subject to this treatment simply because I'm a woman but, sadly, for some women this is all they have known. I'm thankful that I have the same rights as a man in this country and even though there are many ways to improve in the issue of gender discrimination, I can still make my own decisions, go where I want (with or without a man!), seek justice when I have been wronged and have access to all the services our country offers. My heart mourns for women in the world who have not, and perhaps never will, experience these things. 
Today I give thanks for being a citizen of a free nation, which was not because of anything I did but because I was blessed to have been born here. I think of those who work so hard to escape from their country and government so they can have a better life in Canada. I am thankful for our free country, which has much room for improvement but provide us with so much because of those who came before us and fought for it.