Remember to Remember

[jj]

is there anyone who doesn't love Rick?

YouTube - RMR: Rick's Rant - Remember to Remember

[charlene]

was just going to post this..lol
Here's the text:
Canadians are very good at respecting Remembrance Day. And if you've ever been lucky enough to attend a ceremony in person or even watch it live on TV from Ottawa you know it’s not something you'll ever forget. It doesn't get much more moving than that. But for most Canadians it's a workday, it's a weekday, it’s a busy day like any other.

And it can get away from you. Like last year, I wasn't at a ceremony; I wasn’t watching TV; I was squeezing in a haircut. And I looked down at my watch, it was two minutes to eleven. Two minutes to the moment where the entire country chooses to be silent to reflect on the sacrifice of our war dead. And where am I? I’m wearing a giant bib, there’s a women in one ear telling me she met Rex Murphy in person and he's really quite handsome, there’s a guy in my other ear telling me how his appendix exploded. And the music is on bust. And I ask you? Is this why they died on the beaches? Well, yes it is actually. So all of us could go about our busy lives without a care in the world.

And so I stepped out on the sidewalk where it was quiet. And then I came back in and the woman said to me, “did you go for a cigarette?” And I said no – it’s November 11th, it’s eleven o’clock, I wanted a moment of silence. And do you ever have those moments where you just want to take back what you just said? Because as soon as I said it I felt like the biggest holier than thou jerk who ever walked the earth and she felt worse. Because she didn't mean to forget. It just happened. It can happen to any of us, and we know it shouldn't.

So this year let’s make sure we remember to remember. By setting your alarm, it's in your phone. And if you don't know how that works, ask your kid. They can show you how your phone works. And you can tell them why we can never forget.

[charlene]

I'll give a listen to some tunes tomorrow: (Quite a week for Lightfoot tunes - CRT/CPR/Last Spike anniversary. The Wreck anniversary and some Remembrance Day tunes as well..)

Heaven Help The Devil, Sit Down Young Stranger, The Lost Children, and Leaves of Grass.

The Lost Children:
Goodbye you lost children, God speed you on your way
Your little beds are empty now, your toys are put away
Your mother sings a lullaby as she gazes at the floor
Your father builds more weapons and marches out once more

Leaves of Grass:
If people could look into each other's eyes
What a wonderful place this world would be
All strife would end, we could start again
And dreams like these must not pass on

But the brave keep falling to honor the names
Of the ones who have gone before
And the earth shall give new life to them
But only the grass will grow once more

Heaven Help The Devil:
In these times of trial and uncertainty
I have thought what does this freedom mean to me
Is it just some long forgotten fantasy
Our love for each other may not be explained
We live in a world where tears must fall like rain
Most of us don't wish to cause each other pain

We have been captured by the thieves of the night
Held for ransom if you please
Heaven help the devil may he have a few unpleasant memories

Sit Down Young Stranger:
Now will you try and tell us, you been too long at school
That knowledge is not needed, that power does not rule
That war is not the answer, that young men should not die
Sit down young stranger, I wait for your reply

The answer is not easy for souls are not reborn
To wear the crown of peace, you must wear the crown of thorns
If Jesus had a reason, I'm sure he would not tell
We treated him so badly, how could he wish us well

The parlor now is empty, there's nothing left to say
My father has departed, my mother's gone to pray
There's rockets in the meadows and ships out on the sea
The answer's in the forest, carved upon a tree

John loves Mary, does anyone love me ?

[jj]

nice char...and some good ones to try gently tinkle in the next 36 hours

...the 6 year old told me someone at skool said the day is not about "war and death, but life and peace..." (that's why he wasn't afraid at the weekend service...but he did not enjoy the bagpipes or bugle, lol)

"Oh may the light of freedom shine
For all the world to see
And peace and joy to all mankind
Through all the years to be" (GL)

[charlene]

remembering those who gave the future generations life and peace.
maybe one day for all... maybe one day.

[jj]

2525....(j/k)

[charlene]

2525....(j/k)

fingers crossed !
lol

[charlene]

Dear David Newland has penned these lovely thoughts: http://blogs.canoe.ca/canoedossier/oh-canada/remembrance/

Remembrance Day is an unusual event on the Canadian calendar.

Typically, our holidays and rituals are based in religious observance, often transmuted into joyful celebrations of one kind or another. We’re used to gathering with family and friends, paying whatever sort of attention seems fitting to the underlying meaning of the day, and enjoying whatever feast, ritual or celebration goes along with it.

This is true for everything from Christmas to Halloween to the May 24th weekend.

Remembrance Day is a notable exception. There are no gifts to buy, no wacky costumes to don, no party to stage. We’re not opening the cottage, packing a picnic or searching for Easter eggs.

Instead there’s the simple act of wearing the poppy, a brief moment perhaps at the local cenotaph, or a ceremony in the school. Sometimes a parade, but not a parade with clowns and candy. Instead we may watch veterans marching in their medals, maybe with a pipe band.

There are outlying rituals too: the documentaries on television, the articles in the papers and online. In a world where Billy Bishop is on Flickr, there’s ample opportunity to delve into the meaning of the moment, if we take the time. And there’s always the ceremony on Parliament Hill that many watch on TV as their way of participating.

Through all this runs a peculiar somber thread not typically seen in Canadian day to day life. It’s not universal perhaps, but it is genuine, and unites young and old, civilians and veterans, immigrants and landed Canadians.

Whatever we may do, however we may observe, we have only one task to fulfill for Remembrance Day. We are to remember.

Not everyone does – and chastising those who don’t wear poppies has become a ritual as well – but that only underlines why the rest of us do, and must remember.

We’re not glorifying war. We’re not ignoring the many conflicts ongoing in the world. We’re not putting our military service personnel on a pedestal merely because they wear the uniform. We’re not even beating our chests because the good guys won in the major conflicts of the 20th century in which Canada played an important role.

We’re just remembering. Remembering sacrifice. Remembering courage. Remembering victory and defeat and the cost of war. Remembering how individuals, families, communities, and the country were defined by war during the dark days of battle. Remembering how death in the fields of France, on the heights of Hong Kong, in the cold winter of Korea, in the arid expanses of Afghanistan have scarred us at home and abroad.

Those scars defined us as a nation nearly a century ago, and they do now.

I come from a family that included several Second World War veterans, including my grandfather, and a beloved great uncle who was shelled in the fighting that followed the Normandy landings. He lived to a ripe old age, but deaf in one ear and in constant pain from the shrapnel that remained in his legs. He left me his memoirs before he died, and they are a visceral link to experiences I could otherwise never even have fathomed. I go for beers with my buddies. He watched his buddies get their brains blown out.

The pain and the stories of the men and women who served shaped their families, and the pain and the stories of thousands of families shaped the way this nation grew in the past century.

There were constant reminders of that in the small town of my youth. There was a living World War I vet every kid knew about and revered. He visited the high school every Remembrance Day and was a living testament to the continued presence of long-ago war. We listened to the bugler play the Last Post and shivered. We watched the middle-aged World War II vets march, we read the names on the cenotaphs and the plaques and stained glass windows in the churches. Remembrance was easy then. It was all around us.

Today, perhaps it’s not so easy. What’s easy is to let the clock tick right past and forget the moment of silence; to ignore the difficult act of remembering someone else’s sacrifice in favour of more pressing distractions. It’s easy for some to be cynical, too, thinking that war is such an unthinkable thing we all ought to just move on. But that’s no use to anyone. Soldiers are still real people in unreal situations, and war goes on.

Cynicism doesn’t end wars.

It will be courage, ultimately, that ends wars, or at least keeps them as humane as possible, as limited as possible, as infrequent as possible. We’ll all be asked to contribute our share of that courage. And that will be a tough job.

For many of us courage is a quality we’re seldom called upon to express. We’re seldom asked to sacrifice. Where will we find that strength?

This is why we remember: because the stories we tell and the sacrifices we honour on Remembrance Day are the living repository of the courage of a young nation. That strength can be our strength, for justice and for peace – if only we remember.

Lest we forget.

[timetraveler]

was just going to post this..lol
Here's the text:
Canadians are very good at respecting Remembrance Day. And if you've ever been lucky enough to attend a ceremony in person or even watch it live on TV from Ottawa you know it’s not something you'll ever forget. It doesn't get much more moving than that. But for most Canadians it's a workday, it's a weekday, it’s a busy day like any other.

And it can get away from you. Like last year, I wasn't at a ceremony; I wasn’t watching TV; I was squeezing in a haircut. And I looked down at my watch, it was two minutes to eleven. Two minutes to the moment where the entire country chooses to be silent to reflect on the sacrifice of our war dead. And where am I? I’m wearing a giant bib, there’s a women in one ear telling me she met Rex Murphy in person and he's really quite handsome, there’s a guy in my other ear telling me how his appendix exploded. And the music is on bust. And I ask you? Is this why they died on the beaches? Well, yes it is actually. So all of us could go about our busy lives without a care in the world.

And so I stepped out on the sidewalk where it was quiet. And then I came back in and the woman said to me, “did you go for a cigarette?” And I said no – it’s November 11th, it’s eleven o’clock, I wanted a moment of silence. And do you ever have those moments where you just want to take back what you just said? Because as soon as I said it I felt like the biggest holier than thou jerk who ever walked the earth and she felt worse. Because she didn't mean to forget. It just happened. It can happen to any of us, and we know it shouldn't.

So this year let’s make sure we remember to remember. By setting your alarm, it's in your phone. And if you don't know how that works, ask your kid. They can show you how your phone works. And you can tell them why we can never forget.And to that may I add an Amen Brother?