Have you ever looked at a word and wondered what it means?

While at a restaurant recently, I noticed a word that was tattooed on our waitperson: Sonder.

The word sent me searching my mind for when I had last heard it. Perhaps I had come across it years ago, or it may have simply stayed with me because it rhymes with sombre.

To my surprise, I found it was coined only in 2012 by John Koenig in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.

NOUN AND VERB

Sonder is the realization that every person carries a story as deep and complex as our own. The word felt old because understanding the truth that every life is a universe is timeless, even if the word is new.

Sonder calls us to love our neighbour by seeing their story and, on Remembrance Day, this truth feels especially close. We pause to honour lives we have never known, yet whose stories shaped the world we now live in. We pray for war to be a thing of the past even though we are reminded daily that it remains a present reality.

The Salvation Army has long understood this truth. The Army has stood beside people whose stories were heavy with sacrifice, loss, courage and hope. Their pastors, chaplains and volunteers were present long before we had a word like sonder to describe the sacredness of fully seeing a persons haped by war or loss.

Not all who serve wear uniforms, but all who do carry the same quiet courage, that calling of service.

Words are God’s gift to us. Sonder is such a word. It is both noun and verb. It is empathy and realization, memory and hope.

Like sonder, The Salvation Army is both noun and verb. It is an organization, a community, a church. It is also outreach, healing and rescue.

Salvation Army pastors, chaplains and volunteers were present long before we had a word like sonder to describe the sacredness of fully seeing a person shaped by war or loss. LOUIS KYRON

LEST WE FORGET?

At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, we pause for two minutes in silence to remember.

Silence is full of memory, gratitude and the presence of God. Silence is the power of words withheld. Silence is faith, hope and love.

We remember those whose wounds are still visible and those whose wounds are hidden. Remembrance Day makes that truth visible. We live in the peace others planted with their courage. Remembrance Day reminds us that we reap blessings we did not directly earn, and we honour those who sowed them with their lives.

As we approach November 11, let us be shaped by focused gratitude.

We can thank a veteran as we purchase a poppy or spend time at a local Legion, a retirement home or a long‑term-care facility. We can attend the Remembrance Day service at a local cenotaph.

“Lest we forget” is not just a slogan. It is a way of life. It is the practice of sonder, the holy discipline of recognizing that every life carries a story worth honouring, remembering and serving.

Photo: Robert McAlpine/stock.Adobe.com

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