Every now and then, I attempt to clean out my inbox. It’s a never-ending task, as many (most?) of us know. A whack-a-mole with sales pitches from companies you didn’t know existed but somehow you are on their distribution list.

In my case, due to the writing activities, I am on various press release lists. Few are worth taking seriously, given that it’s not just information they are sending out but a call to action for people like me to interview PR representatives from various businesses that have solved some of humanity’s biggest problems to date. Or so they think. Come to think of it, it’d be fun to create a compilation of the wackiest product adverts (okay, press releases) sent my way.

But I digress.

Back to my inbox. As I was about to delete the last of emails I never asked for, one caught my eye. It was the day after, but this was a Remembrance Day sale. Wait, what?? Exactly. If you are shaking your head, I understand. I did too. Anyway, I opened it. It was indeed a promotion, and hey, aren’t all holidays the same? Well, they are not. You and I, and many others know that. Let’s call this willful ignorance.

This would be a good time to ask the question we don’t hear that often anymore, ‘Is there nothing sacred?’

Some things should be left alone when it comes to promotional one-day sales, and Remembrance Day is one of them. Veterans and people in uniforms who are currently serving deserve their day to be honoured and without anyone making a few dollars because they think all holidays are the same.

It’s bad enough that every year after Halloween there is the debate about whether Christmas lights and other decorations should go up before Remembrance Day. And there’s always a few people who argue that in their conversations with veterans, they were told that yes, people went to war and put their lives on the line so that the rest of us can have the freedom to do things, including putting up Christmas lights early if we feel that way. Again, feel free to shake your head. It has become a yearly tradition for me.

As for the email… you see, there was this one thing that really irked me most of all. You know how sales have a discount code which is usually a word or a word plus digits, which you apply at checkout. The discount code for this sale was COURAGE. Yes, all caps. The audacity of it. The obscenity of it. Sigh.

Of all the ways to display courage, typing it in capital letters as a discount code is not one of them.

I mean, it’s one day a year to set aside for honouring courage and sacrifice. To remember and be grateful. Lest we forget.

PS: For what it’s worth, I did send an email to them about it. I will let you know if I get a reply.