When did Remembrance Day get weird? I grew up attending Girl Guides, which meant that every November 11, I put on my uniform and lined up in the cold to march in a parade to the cenotaph behind the veterans in our little community. One of us laid a wreath while the rest of us stood still, and then the veterans led the way feebly into the legion for hot chocolate. I went to a community cenotaph today, and there were still over a thousand people crowded into the small space, although precious few veterans WWII veterans are left. I stood near an elderly man, two middle aged women, a family with children perhaps one and six years of age, and a couple police officers . It wasn’t weird during the ceremony, listening to the high school student perform the last post, wishing I knew the words to “Abide With Me,” and spending the moment of silence imagining the experiences of all the soldiers and those that loved them.
What was weird was earlier in the week, as I heard debate about purple poppies to remember the animals killed in the war, and white poppies to advocate for peace. I don’t imagine the people behind these movements meant offence, so I don’t bother to take any. I wonder though, if they have a distorted idea of why those of us sporting red poppies choose to do so.
I am not a military-minded person. If I was Prime Minister I would be working hard to avoid armed conflict. The truth is that war can’t always be avoided, at least not by the second party. If the all of the allied nations chose not to respond to Hitler’s Germany, many more than six million people would have been killed in concentration camps. We would have a very different world now without the actions of the soldiers who fought. Not all of the battles in Canadian history have been noble. The British and French fought over possession of the land, and in some cases the Europeans fought the Natives for the land too. Since Confederation, though, we have mostly served to protect people and ideals. Canadians are proud to be a peacekeeping nation. Warmongering often involves a great deal of idealizing and emotionalizing, unifying a people against a foe. I don’t always agree with the ideology used, but I respect the brave men and women who have supported their country. They acted in faith, doing what they believed was right. Thousands of them have died trying to protect our freedom, or the freedom of those in other nations.
The people who went over in WWI and WWII came back changed for life, if they returned at all. Most of them would not have wished such experiences on another generation. WWI was called the war to end all wars in part because so many people hoped it would. The poppy isn’t a “Support Our Troops” sign. For most it is worn in remembrance. We recognize the horrors that veterans endured, and that peacekeepers continue to endure. We thank them for the freedom they fought and often died for, so that it was not in vain. I believe most of the veterans would like to think that some day we actually will end all wars. Every child who grows up understanding the sacrifices made by others for the freedom she enjoys brings us a step closer to that day.
