Today is Sunday and it is also November 11th, The day we stop to remember why we have the rights and freedoms we sometimes take for granted. Free speech, free elections, no denigration of women. All are treated equal and fair. We do not suffer under tyrants (Hitler, Hussein...). We have a say in our government and how it should be run (sort of).
My mother, Helen was born on November 11th and as young children she told us we had the day off school because it was her birthday. We soon learned differently. She died on September 24th, 2007. We chose to bury her ashes with my father, Garth on November 11th, 2007 near Norwich, Ontario. We felt it symbolic of coming into this world and officially leaving it on the same date. I remember throwing poppies on top of her urn. And I will always remember the song we played as we left the Funeral Home.
Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli - Time to Say Goodbye
I sometimes try to figure out how we are all connected in this world. When we left the funeral that September day, I took the beautiful arrangement of pink roses that had sat on her casket to my BFF, Linda. Not knowing what to do with them, she decided to put them on her dad's grave. He had been born on November 11th too. Coincidence. Hmmm.
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 marked the "official" end of the First World War. It is also known as Armistice Day in some countries. A day to remember and pay tribute to the country's fallen soldiers from the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iraq & Afghanistan conflicts and peacekeeping missions.
A small tidbit of sad information: Two minutes before the armistice went into effect, at 10:58 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918, Pte. George Lawrence Price was felled by a bullet. Price would become the final Commonwealth soldier — and the last of more than 66,000 Canadians — to be killed in the First World War.
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| The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier following Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ottawa, Nov. 11, 2006. Photos are of some of the Canadian soldiers killed in Afganistan. (Tom Hanson/The Canadian Press) |
Today we wear the poppy, made famous after John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields was published in 1915. The poppy became a popular symbol for soldiers who died in battle. It is to be worn on the left over the heart. My kids high school was named after John McCrae, born in Guelph, Ontario in honour of his contribution as a doctor, poet and officer of the First World War.
I hope everyone will take a moment to remember the sacrifices made by many for our rights and freedoms we have today. "Never forget" is the cry of the veterans. If only we could learn to live in a world free from conflict and war.
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| In Flanders Fields |
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.
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 failing 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.
May peace be with you today and always.
1 comment:
Beautiful post Sandy. Hubs and I saw Argo today...great movie if you haven't seen it. I never knew the story but my bday was the day all the hostages were finally released. Canada sure stood by America in that crisis.
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