What or who will you take time to remember on Remembrance Day? 

Remembrance Day

It surprised me a bit when I realized that Remembrance Day was this Sunday.  I haven't bought a poppy this year yet, as I haven't really come across them.  Maybe I've just been hibernating at home a little too much, but I've gone out a bit!

I can only recall seeing the poppies once this year and I was just thinking they had them out early, but really it wasn't all that early.

I'll make sure to get one this week, but I'm not really sure where!

Remembrance Day is about more than the people we know, or our ancestors. It is about every man or woman who served, every loss, and every lesson learned. I cannot know every soldier, every conflict or every horror, but my poppy does; it represents all of it. The tiny red flower is heavy with the weight of all it knows. I wear it in hopes that it won't have to get any heavier.

My Poppy Laden

© 2011 Arlene Somerton Smith

Tho' whisper-light, the flower over my heart weighs heavy,
laden with its symbolism.

The main reason I have faith is because it is the only thing that separates me from pointlessness. Looking at the universe as a charged atomic soup and nothing more leads me to ask, as Peggy Lee did, “Is that all there is?”

 This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.

So our high school celebrated Remembrance Day on Tuesday. I have English class with two twins, who I recently learnt were Jahovan Witnesses (spelt right?) They've never stood up for the national anthem, and I kinda understand that, with the religious ties in the anthem and all, but I was really surprised the on Tuesday. When they asked everyone to stand up for the two minutes of silence, they just kinda sat there staring at eachother, quietly stating the odd comment. I was really offended!

Next Remembrance Day could we just have the ceremony and SKIP THE SPEECHES? 

I attended the Remembrance Day ceremony in my town today and although I always find the ceremony moving, as usual I was distracted and slightly put off by the speeches.  This year it was a seemingly small thing.  The speechmaker commented that the men who had died in Afghanistan had died fighting for freedom and then used words to the effect that we should all "commit to fighting for freedom". 

This isn't really political. But I can't think of where else to put it.

Today, I took my army cadet son to get ready for the remembrance day ceremony at the nearby village. The ceremony will last a good hour, will have at least 50 people playing a role, including the seven or eight surviviing vets, and will draw most of the local population.  It will be the third such event in the last week just in this locality. The other other two were the United Church service and the school assembly. all were major events.