Prime Minister Stephen Harper greets His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales at the Remembrance Day Ceremony held at the National War Memorial.
By Helena Kaufman, Last night I had the strangest dream
I’d ever dreamed before ,I dreamed the world had all agreed ,To put an end to war ,Words and music by Ed McCurdy
What we remember when we are awake in the light of day on November 11 is Veteran’s Day, Poppy Day, Armistice Day and Remembrance Day. These are the various names, depending on where in the Commonwealth or larger world you live, by which we recognize the day an armistice was declared. Traditionally, on Remembrance Day we stop activity and observe two minutes of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month (11:00 am, 11 November), as that marks the time (in the United Kingdom) when armistice became effective and the guns fell silent. In Canada, we see single red poppy flowers worn on lapels, or wreaths of artificial poppies begin to appear two weeks in advance of the one official day. The flower as emblem resulted from the famous poem ‘In Flanders’s Fields’, written by Canadian military physician John McCrae. The poppy, he noted, bloomed blood red on the worst battlefields of World War I, near Flanders.
Time marched on. The 1960s saw post World War II babies emerging as young adults. They staged peace marches and sit-ins protesting new wars. On the lips of an entire generation were folk songs remembering wars, and civil rights and urging an end to war and violence. Somehow, war raged on and is still with us. It seeps into our daily routines, inescapable via today’s audio, video or print technology 24 hour news coverage. A light is shone on the bloodshed and darkest deeds of human kind all over the world. But with all the proofs still war continues.
Yet, for many Canadians, both new and settled, war is not just a phenomenon seen through the lens of a television camera or a journalist’s recounting from afar. Canadians have memories of wars through the discovery of wartime memorabilia in a family attic or stories shared by surviving relatives. Or, they may have very vivid contact beyond pieces of time such as photographs, uniform badges, medals, and diaries kept and handed down. Their memories may be what pushed them to start anew in Canada, as a safe shelter from a current and horrid reality.
The Afro News with its mission as The Voice of Unity – and new Canadian, Honore M. Gbedze at the helm, respectfully covers current local and global situations. The publication reports on strife and challenge and also presents news of hope of a positive and healthy future. It reconciles this in the same way that the world honours the dead who served with valour and courage – on opposite sides of the battle lines. Universally we must surely remember the sacrifices as their belief in freedom, of choice, in peace and that their actions would make a significant difference for a safer and better future. We are wise to acknowledge the hard truths of history and to work for the very values our predecessors, our family members, our fellow citizen fought hard to achieve wherever they came from. The responsibility is now on us to remember and to not take for granted the Canadian values and institutions that support us all.
The collection of values that come from our various countries of origin now mix with the current freedom to participate in cultural and political events, and the right to live under a government of our choosing. This and the flourishing of their families and life’s work is after all what Canadians held dear when they answered the call of duty to fight or to protect – at home and in far away lands – then and now. In future, citizens of this earth may be asked to be as courageous in fighting new kinds of wars with new kinds of consequences. It is in all our best interests to remember and to learn history’s lessons. These lessons are written even as we stand silently and contemplate the past.
Who, what and how will you remember on this day in 2009?
In our hearts today and every day till resolution of their situations are all the souls caught up in the conflicts in the Sudan, the Congo and other areas of Africa. Let’s stand for peace together and make our word a better place for all.
Special to The Afro News Vancouver
