Lest We Forget

Yesterday was Remembrance Day. I had originally planned to make this post last night, but because I was up late working on a journalism assignment I didn’t get a chance to write it.
Part of my journalism assignment was to go to a Remembrance Day service. I hadn’t attended one in a very long time. I’m not sure of the exact time, but it’s been about eight years since I finished high school, and I think it was sometime before that, when I last attended a Remembrance Day service.

My memories of them are kind of blurred. I remember that a few uniformed soldiers would attend. Students who were military cadets would also attend the services dressed in uniform. Everyone would be given poppies at the beginning of day. The gym would be full of students sitting cross legged, and some one would recite Flanders Fields. I have a particular vivid memory of two girls singing Imagine by John Lennon at one service.

The Service I attended yesterday seemed much different than the services I remembered from my youth. Part of it is probably my age, which I think comes with a higher understanding of the significance of what Remembrance Day means.

There was an understanding of the weight and seriousness of the event by everyone involved that came across in the presentation. The solemn looks on the faces of the veterans who experienced conflict first hand was instantly recognizable. They really know what this day means.

The readings at the service were moving and powerful. A particularly well spoken reading of the Soldiers’ Prayer moved many of the people in attendance to tears. It was a performance, but the speaker wasn’t performing to show off his ability to clearly articulate and emphasize the words he read. He was bringing to life all of those that are now without a voice, clearly illustrating what the words representing them meant, and attempting to show all of us who couldn’t possibly begin to imagine what they went through what they felt while going through it.

I always knew Remembrance Day was important, but after attending yesterday’s service, speaking to a veteran and seeing pictures of a now 80 year old man, when he was younger than me, dressed in uniform, and imagining the magnitude of the responsibility that was taken on by that generation, gave me a whole understanding of its significance.

I don’t know if it’s entirely appropriate, I decided to embed Shine a Light by the Rolling Stones.