In Remembrance

I was deeply moved by Ryan's post on what Remembrance Day means to him. Especially the part about when he explained how difficult it would be to lose a child or lose a parent as a child to war. As a child sitting through Remembrance Day ceremonies at school, I remember not truly connecting with the content. I knew why we were there but I didn't understand the impact that the sacrifices of the brave men and women had on my life. As an adult, I feel that I appreciate these sacrifices on such a deeper level, and Remembrance Day has become much more meaningful to me. 

When you are a teacher, you are fortunate to meet many amazing people who come in and talk to your students. This year, we had Major Reg Tweeten come and speak with our middle years students. The students were anticipating that he would speak about war. However, he talked instead about the concept of forgiveness. He brought it to students' levels by encouraging them to forgive a bully, as bullies probably have many difficulties of their own. He talked about forgiving people who make nasty comments on social media about them. Then he spoke about how Canada helped to rebuild Europe after WWII. Major Tweeten prepared a slideshow that showed before and after photos of areas of France. It was an extremely effective and visual way for kids to understand the devastation of WWII as well as the rebuilding efforts.

On Wednesday last week, we had our Remembrance Day ceremony at school. One of the teachers in charge of planning the ceremony had asked students and staff to submit photos and a description of their friends or family who have served (or are serving) in the armed forces. With this, she put together a PowerPoint presentation. In the beginning of the presentation, she had some slides to explain what war is. Then, she made slides that showed portraits of every soldier in Canada who was lost in the war in Afghanistan. At this point of the presentation, I looked around the gym and did not see too many dry eyes. The rest of the presentation had slides of the loved ones of our staff and students. Here is a picture that I submitted of my Grandfather. During WWII, he lied about his age to join the forces at 17 to fight in WWII as a paratrooper. He later became a Sergeant. I never got to meet him as he passed away when my mom was 18, but he's my hero.

In the end, we are all connected to someone who has bravely fought for our freedom, in one way or another. So please take a moment to reflect about what Remembrance Day means to you.