They came by the thousands. They do every year. To mourn. To pray. To remember.

Each year I talk myself out of attending the national Remembrance Day ceremonies in downtown Ottawa. I tell myself it is too cold, too rainy, I am too busy with work, and the view is better on television. At home, no-one will see me cry

But this year I went. Probably inspired by my memories of what it was like to be at Menin Gate.

There is something special though about being in community. Publicly sharing a common memory brings strangers closer together

It has been decades since I last attended this ceremony. But as I get older I am very much aware of the importance of tradition and ritual, of the symbols and traditions that are part of the fabric of our society.

I am old enough to remember when there were plenty of veterans from the First World War around. They were not even old back then.

Now the veterans if the second World War are few in number, mostly more than a hundred years old. Soon they will all be gone.

But war won’t be.

In 1918 they thought they had fought the “war to end all wars.” The thought helped provide a rationale for the carnage and slaughter of 1914-1918. People believed humanity had learned a costly lesson.

The ensuing years have proven that to be wishful thinking. There is armed conflict across the globe, bother well publicized (Ukraine, Iran, Gaza) and unnoticed outside the area where it is happening (Eritrea, Sudan, Yemen and more). The death toll continues to rise.

Standing in the crowd I thought a lot about the fallen nature of man and the conflicts that have arisen as a result. It has been more than a century since we thought war was over. A century from now someone will probably be standing where I stood, thinking the same thoughts, with a new list of wars running through their heads.

The crowd was a microcosm of Canadians; all ages, all races, brought together by a common desire to show respect and remembrance.

As for the ceremony itself, I couldn’t see a thing that was happening. There were so many people, I was probably about 20 deep and it seemed as if everyone in front of me was taller than I am.

I could hear the commentary, but I followed along on a television feed on my phone. I wasn’t alone – and that caused problems. there were so many people in the area that the signal was slow. What I was watching was about 45 seconds behind what I could hear being announced.

I’m glad I went. It felt right that I was there. But next year I will watch the ceremony on television at home.