This morning I attended the Remembrance Day ceremony at my children's school. Janelle's primary choir sang "Blowin' in the Wind", and I wanted to see her first performance so I chose to go to the service at the school, rather than at the cenotaph downtown. While I was sitting at the back of the gym, I noticed Connor sitting on the floor with his class, just a few metres from where I was. I don't think he noticed me watching him. Janelle had caught my eye when I walked in and gave an enthusiatic wave and a bright smile, but Connor had his back to me. I kept my eye on him through much of the service. He seemed to be paying close attention, taking it all in. Yesterday we went on a field trip to the Tillsonburg Airport, where many of the planes that were used to train the RAF during WWII are located. It was a great field trip, and I think it really helped the students connect with the things that would be talked about today. Connor was fascinated. He put his head inside the cockpit of a plane that many soldiers trained in and breathed in the scent of history. Maybe it helped me make a connection, too.
While I watched my son during this Remembrance Day service I couldn't help but think about something that was impressed upon the kids and the parents at the airport yesterday. Many of the soldiers who served in the world wars were not many years older than these kids, our kids, my son. Looking at my precious son, I think about another boy. A boy I've never met. I don't know his name, but I know his mother's heart. I know she loved him every bit as much as I love Connor, when she sent him across the sea to the waiting enemy guns. That heart felt like it would tear out of her chest when she gave him one last embrace before whispering her teary goodbye. And on the day she received news that he would not be coming home, she wondered how she would go on living.
Thousands of Canadian mothers gave up their sons for our freedom. That is the sacrifice that pulls at my heart today. They did not love their sons less than I love mine. And the idea of sending my son across an ocean with a gun is inconceivable to me. Today I am thankful for the brokenhearted mothers whose sacrifice bought my freedom. I remember.
I dropped my kids off at school this morning, for the first time on a November 11th. I can't get over the feeling that it is just wrong to be going about our daily business on a day like today. How is it that Queen Victoria's birthday is a statutory holiday here, but the day that we honour our fallen soldiers and encourage the ones currently serving does not merit that recognition?
I grew up in New Brunswick, and Remembrance Day was not a statutory holiday there until about five years ago, but it was a government holiday and many businesses observed the day by closing. I never attended school on Remembrance Day growing up or as a teacher, and neither have my children. There was always an assembly the day before to honour the day. I remember making wreaths with my class, memorizing "In Flanders Fields" and seeing the veterans parade into the gymnasium. I only remember one Remembrance Day that either Chris or I was expected to work. Since it became a statutory holiday, and since our children have been old enough to understand what we were doing, we made it a point to attend the service at the cenotaph in Marysville, along with most of our neighbours, to hear the trumpet play the Last Post, and observe our two minutes of silence, and see the wreaths laid in memory of loved ones who gave their lives for our freedom. I never wanted this day to be just another holiday. I always wanted it to mean something to my children, and it meant something to me that we observed the importance of this day as a family.
Six provinces and three territories in Canada have declared Remembrance Day a statutory holiday. In Nova Scotia it is not, although employers are required to give either November 11 or an alternate day off. In Manitoba it is considered an "Official Day of Observance", although not a statutory holiday. In Ontario and Quebec it is not a statutory holiday. I am very proud that nine out of thirteen governments in my country have decided that this day is worthy of being observed as a holiday. I am saddened that I live in one of the two that have not given this day the honour that it is due. I wonder why Family Day in February is a statutory holiday, and the civic holiday in August, Labour Day in September and Boxing Day in December? Why do they merit statutory holiday status, but not this day that is so significant in the history of our country?
My children will attend a Remembrance Day ceremony at their school this morning. Janelle's choir will be singing, and I am welcome to attend as well. Unfortunately, we have a window that won't close in our living room. It's getting a bit too cold to have an open window all the time, and today is the only day that the window company could make a service call. I have to be at home to wait for them between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. I guess I'll be tuning in to a service on TV. Chris has meetings at work all day today, so he isn't free to attend a memorial service either.
I understand that many of the people who do have today off will not take the opportunity to share in the Remembrance Day service in their communities. However, many of the people who would like to commemorate the day in this way don't have the option. I am sad to see the end of something that has become a family tradition for us.
I first saw the following video when it was played at my church during a Remembrance Day service a few years ago. I think it very aptly sums up the way I am feeling about taking the time, and allowing others the opportunity to take the time, to honour our veterans and our soldiers now serving to protect our freedom.
