I’ve seen this quote before, but I’ll link to where I saw it posted today on the livejournal of Elizabeth Bear: http://matociquala.livejournal.com/2159340.html

I don’t know anyone who’s gone to war, but war tends to be something I write about. I think it started when I read the Westmark Trilogy, by Lloyd Alexander, which is a hearbreaking story of a country in the throes of civil and international war. It always rang very powerfully for me, and when I read later that it was inspired by the author’s own experiences as a ground infantryman in WWII, I understood how Alexander made the tragedy and senseless death feel so real.

By all means, honour the deaths of soldiers who died for an honourable cause, but try to remember that this day was originally set aside to mark, not the day that men died, but the day they stopped dying.