|
Remembrance Day / Jour du Souvenir November 11th
Are you planning to attend any ceremonies for Remembrance Day?
I know that I will and I will take that moment to remember all the men and women, soliders and civilians who died during any war in this world. I will remind myself how humans can be stupid at times... My thoughts to anyone who has or had a member of their family fall during a war... |
Memorial Day is about those who died.
Veterans Day is for those of us who are alive. http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp that is in the US....different countries celebrate 11/11 differently. |
Toughy, I know it is different in the US but since this is the "canadian" part of the forums, I wanted to know if any of my fellow canadians are doing something special for this day or taking two minutes of silence to pay tribute to the men and women who served my country.
"On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Canadians are asked to pause in memory of the thousands of men and women who sacrificed their lives in military service. At public gatherings in Ottawa and around the country, Canadians pay tribute with two minutes of silence to the country's fallen soldiers from the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Afghanistan conflict and peacekeeping missions." source: cbc.ca |
I have often gone to the events, but end up crying my eyes out.
My grandpa was in WWII. He was lucky enough to make it home in one piece. He had several wounds, but did have his life. He would never talk about what happened, no matter how badly I wanted to know. He has since passed, but I think of him often. When he passed, a cache of letters he had written to the young woman he was courting were found. The young woman would eventually become his wife. His letters were assembled in chronological order and put into clear sleeves and tucked into 3, 3 inch binders. I have read the letters. Never once did he complain about the war. He was always upbeat, yet yearning to come home. He spoke of going ice skating with his girl and all their friends. I cried my way through those letters, and remember them fondly. The year he died, I went to his grave and buried one of our Canadian Poppy quarters in the dirt by his headstone. I also left him my velvet poppy. So tomorrow, I have a white candle to light for him and his pals, and I have a huge bouquet of lush white lily's, to enjoy in his honor. I will watch the event's on tv, because I get embarrassed when I cry in public. I will light my candle, smell the blossoms, and have a really good cup of coffee...just for him. {He REALLY liked coffee} Thank you Grandpa~ |
|
I cannot start November 11th without this popping into my head. Although I'm not home, I think of all those Canadians in the past and present who have given their lives in the name of the simple leaf.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from falling hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. |
I went to the ceremony held on McGill's Campus this morning. At the end of the ceremony, I gather up the courage to approach a veteran and personally thanked him.
|
|
I rarely ever look to see which folder stuff is in.......my apologies......
my salute to all my sisters and brothers in arms. |
For me, Remembrance Day is particularly about World War I and World War II, and those who sacrificed their lives in those particular wars, many because they had no choice. I view the circumstances of those wars as very different from those that have come since, and in many respects I see that as the point of Remembrance Day. Too many young soldiers getting caught up in the ideological/political causes of those who have nothing to lose by playing other people like their own personal pawns. The fact that many soldiers even today are forced into serving due to poor economic and social situations is something we need to start addressing more. Since WWI and WWII it has never since been about "defending" one's own nation, or "defending" much of anything, but about pressing a certain political will on other nations.
As such, I also choose to use today as not only a day of remembrance of Canadian soldiers who died in those two brutal wars, but also as a day of remembering the needless victims of the Western world. This is something that I've only really seen Germany do: acknowledging and honouring its own victims. I think the rest of the West should follow in their steps and use Remembrance Day as a way of reminding ourselves of the horrors of war, and how needless many of the wars going on today are...how the lessons we should have learned is that these could have been avoided, and so many lives spared. "Lest we forget." I think in many ways we have forgotten. |
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:22 AM. |
ButchFemmePlanet.com
All information copyright of BFP 2018