Remembrance

     Today is the day we have ceremonies all over our country to remember those who've served in our military forces. There are many very colorful and meaningful remembrance day celebrations.

     I heard one statement today that makes more sense to me than others. November 11 is not the only day that we should remember. Remembering the effort and sacrifice every day of the year would be the right thing to do. Ceremonies to mark an occasion are fine, but in our heart what really counts is to remember every day.

    I was born in Oct. , 1939 just a few days after the war started. I remember very little. I do remember my Mom making up parcels to send to her brother and cousins who were overseas. I'm sure we were more of a nuisance in the parcel wrapping but it's something that stuck with me. 

    My favorite soldier is my son who was in the reserve forces from 1987 to 1992. He joined the reserve forces on his last day of high school thinking he had a good summer job.  He stayed with the reserves and took more training and became an officer. 

    He became the Officer in Charge of the local unit and supervised summer training. I was very proud to attend some of the events that he either lead or participated in.

Cadets doing their community service

Remembrance

      Tomorrow is Remembrance Day in Canada. Many communities will be having various events to remember a variety of things.

     It's important to stop and remember that thousands of lives were lost in the two world wars and numerous little wars that go on all the time. I try to think of the of individuals who died. I can remember people who I knew. Many people cannot make a similar connection today but they can certainly pick individuals they didn't know and stop for a moment and try to remember what they were like. I think it's important to remember the brave individuals who lost their lives in battle.

    It's necessary to stop and think about the freedom we have and what it cost. We must maintain that freedom for those who fought and for ourselves. Having read some history, it must have been very scary that in the second World War things went well for Hitler.

    It's valuable to stop and think about the awfulness of war. This year we've had stories in our local papers and the old vets tell about how afraid they were . It took bravery to face the danger and it takes courage to admit  fears.

   The older I get the more meaningful remembrance becomes. I do not attend formal ceremonies. I prefer to be by myself and quietly remember and hope that our remembrance will go a long way to improve our world.

A Sad Encounter on Remembrance Day

       On Remembrance day I met my neighbor in the back alley. He asked me if I had been to the remembrance day activities. I told him I hadn't been to the ceremonies. He then got on a rather nasty rant. 


       He stated that anybody who doesn't go to the Remembrance day ceremonies should not be able to take advantage of the day off and should remain at work. We had talked about Hitler and that Hitler had to be stopped because he was a threat to the world. If Hitler had taken over we would have lost all freedoms and would have had to conduct ourselves exactly to Hitler's wishes. I couldn't give any more points to my neighbor as by this time he turned on his heal and left as he does not like nor is he able to defend his views


      Bloggers I follow who  posted on remembrance made  excellent points about remembering the men and women who fought to maintain our freedom. Each post was different. Each post was very significant. I'm sure that each blogger had their own way to remember and I would guess that very few attended a formal ceremony.


     The sad thing that my neighbor had in his head was that all people should be forced to remember the same way. To me that's not what freedom is.  With my neighbor's view, how long would it be before other forms of directed behavior would be prescribed? How long would it be before we would have another madman who would try to take our freedom away? How many people who would be forced to attend remembrance services would actually remember anything? How long would it be before we would lose other freedoms?


     On a Remembrance day I was saddened to hear a rant about losing the freedom to remember in a variety of ways.

Remembrance Evolves Over a Life Time.

       Remembrance of those who served our country goes back a long time and things change and evolve. On thinking about remembrance I began to think about the various stages that we have gone through.


      I was born a few days after the WWII started. I can remember some things about the war through a young child's eyes. I had uncles who were overseas and my parents told me about them. My Mom was forever sending parcels to her brother and cousins. I was impressed with the many men I saw in uniform. We lived a short distance from a major training airbase and had many planes fly over each day.


      I remember young men coming back home and trying to reestablish their life. Most of them left the district after a few years for better opportunities elsewhere.


      My high school teacher was a navy veteran and some days I felt like he thought we were recruits he was training. He was an excellent teacher and influenced many a kid to do better.


      The first Principal I taught under in 1959 was a veteran. He was an able administrator who cared for his students and staff. Since my teaching career began in 1958 , there were many veterans teaching in the school system. When I was in the Arctic many government people were former service people as they had been given employment by the government. Of course, there were the baby boomers who attended school and most of  their parents had gone through the war.


     Most of these veterans who went through my life contributed immensely to the communities they lived in. There was a job that had to be done in the community and they just went out and did it. For example, many indoor hockey arenas were erected. They had learned this attitude during their wartime experience. They had a job to do and they went out and did it whether it was extremely unpleasant or not. 


      Over these years of my contact with service people I did not hear very much about their war experience except for the hijinks they were involved in. Much of their memories and experiences were kept to themselves or sometimes shared with someone who had gone through the horrors of war with them. 


      My son was in the reserve forces in Canada and that influenced the way I thought about our forces. I attended one remembrance service with him.


      Now many of the armed forces people from WWII have left us. Those who are still here are very elderly.


      So over the years my remembrance of what occurred has changed as things are added to my experience and understanding.


      I now have a friend who went through the war as a Flight Sergeant. He has been very good about telling of his war experiences. He has not shied away from telling of some of the horrors he experienced. The war shaped his life greatly. He had just finished high school and thinking about what to do with his life when the war came along and made that decision for him. He found his life's partner as he was training. They decided to marry after the war. The five years of war caused him to miss the normal experiences of life in a community. When he returned it was a struggle to become established. He worked hard and was successful in business, family and community.


      Today at 89 he still contributes. He leads a senior skating group and is the driving force behind its success. It's still the same . A job has to be done and he just goes out and does it.


      So I am thankful for all the people who went out and did the very nasty job of fighting in WWII. Their sacrifices were many. Many sacrificed their life. We owe our gratitude to the men and women who went out and "did the job."


      

Worries about Remembrance Day

       In my head Remembrance Day  is fairly straight forward. I think of the thousands of men and women who served their countries in the armed services. For all of these people there were sacrifices of various degrees. All of them showed bravery and willingness to be well prepared for their duties.

      It seems to me that the meaning of Remembrance Day is becoming complicated. There are a variety of voices that speak and the message is not as focused as in the past. When World War veterans were prominent in large numbers it was easy to focus on remembrance and be lead in remembrance services.

     As time went on more wars were fought and peace keeping activities took place so we added other aspects of remembrance. Some of our armed forces never participated in action but still made tremendous contributions to our peace and safety.

      Much more is being done in schools for remembrance day activities. Students are being taught about our history so that remembrance becomes more meaningful.

     It worries me when I see comments on twitter and other sites that place a much less value on peace keeping services. Peace keepers have been a valuable service to our country and other countries in the world.

      This year there has been a controversy about the color of poppies. Some promote a white poppy to represent peace. Others promote a purple poppy to remember animals. It seems like a petty issue. Red can represent all issues. Why do some people try to hijack an issue to promote their own bias?

     Where we really show our respect is how we treat our veterans when they return from wars and leave the services. Lately our government seems to want to cheap out on services veterans require as a result of serving their country.

     An inspiration to me is an 87 year old veteran who I skate with. He keeps us informed about his activities and shows the pride he had in serving our country. He also tells us the horrors he went through. He's also very honest about the difficulties he  experienced since his return. He is truly a shining example of people who served their country. He helps to focus my remembrance.