Remembrance Day
I leave you peace; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid. John 14:27
When I think of past Remembrance Days, I have memories of sitting in the school gym, listening to bagpipe music and standing for the National Anthem and waiting quietly but impatiently for that moment of silence to be over. Old veterans would come to the school assembly and listen as the choir sang and students recited poems. Then we’d go on with our day, quickly forgetting about these old men and women that fought through wars that we were hardly thankful that we didn’t have to experience.
In college I went to a school that promoted pacifism: a belief that peace can exist without having to resort to war and violence. We didn’t have Remembrance Day assemblies anymore, but had chapels on non-violence and conflict resolution. It was odd, not knowing whether it would be appropriate for me to wear a red poppy or not. But now as I think about this, I don’t want to ignore the fact that thousands of brave men and women died so that I could live in a peaceful country and I could sit at this computer freely talk to you about Jesus.
We must remember. If we do not, the sacrifice of those one hundred thousand Canadian lives will be meaningless. They died for us, for their homes and families and friends, for a collection of traditions they cherished and a future they believed in; they died for Canada. The meaning of their sacrifice rests with our collective national consciousness; our future is their monument. Heather Robertson, A Terrible Beauty, The Art of Canada at War. Toronto, Lorimer, 1977.