November 11th I would say is easily the most important day of every year. I always thought that the Terry Kelly Pitance of Time video accurately represented how Canadians showed their respect on Remembrance Day, but it saddens me to know that is so far from the truth. I have never been to a store or public service on the morning of Remembrance Day because I have been with my dad every year, reflecting and remembering the courageous men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice. I thought everyone else was too.
Nobody’s time is more valuable than that of all of the heroes who lost their lives fighting for the lives of others or than all of those who made it home full of physical and mental scars. Taking two minutes of silence to honour the people who gave their all to our country, whether you are at work, shopping, or spending time with friends and family should be a proud moment for every Canadian, not unacknowledged. I think stores should be on mandatory shut down for two minutes and should be enforcing people to stop and show respect to all of the people who gave them the freedom they have and to think about why all of those men and women bravely sacrificed their lives. Or better yet, closed until after 11am and have different hours like other occasions.
It is our privilege and responsibility to honour and remember why our country is as safe as it is and why we have the freedom we have because it did not happen without a cost. Remembrance Day is a day to remember the fallen but it is also a day to help bring peace to the families who lost
their loved ones and the veterans who had to carry their brothers and sisters back home to be laid to rest. It is for them all to know that their sacrifices will always be honoured and respected. It is so that they know their courage will be remembered for generations. We can’t allow our veterans to think that they and all of their comrades who lost their lives are going to be forgotten once they aren’t here to tell their stories.
Remembrance Day has always had a very powerful meaning to me. Standing next to my dad each year as we take the time to remember those who lost their lives in the line of duty or from their wounds after returning home, is an honour. I never thought I would share this but each year from November 1st to 11th I spend a lot of time reflecting on how many people have made sacrifices for our freedom. As time passes, I have so much more to reflect on because I get the privilege to hear more stories, meet new veterans or serving members and each of them hold a place in my heart. Remembrance Day ceremonies have always been kind of hard for me, but my last few years of high school really hit the hardest. I vividly remember in my school’s Remembrance Day assembly they played a video that showed clips of every war in Canadian history with footage from each one.
It was very powerful and it really made me reflect but at the end of the video it finished off with Afghanistan 2006. I have always been pretty good at composing myself in public but as soon as that part of the video showed through with all the live footage I broke down. There was a long period when I could hardly even hear someone say Afghanistan or read it in a book without getting emotional. I would get a pit in my stomach, my throat would feel tight and I would hold back my tears and that was because I knew what it did to my dad. I had always known we were very lucky to have him come home but I did not know just how lucky we were.
As I got older I heard more and more stories about his tour. I could see the pain in his eyes as he would show me a picture of him and a few of his comrades and tell me that three out of the five of them in the photo were killed in action days later. The first time I met his partner he had for the majority of his tour was a day I won’t forget, I will forever be grateful to him for keeping my dad safe but that day I also learned about many of their “close calls”, and that was when it set in for me just how lucky I am to have had my dad back home.
Those stories have been associated with the word Afghanistan ever since. During two minutes of silence, since I was quite young, I have always pictured a line of heroes I have had the privilege of meeting throughout my life, in their desert-coloured gear with their berets on saluting the Canadian flag, starting with my dad.
As I get the opportunity to meet new heroes the line just gets longer and longer. I think about all they have sacrificed and the mental and physical scars they are left with as they are standing saluting our flag still ready to give their all.
I think about all of the people who have lost their lives after such courageous efforts to help others. Then, as soon as the trumpet sounds at the end of the two minutes, all of the last call stories flash through my mind in seconds, finishing at the sight of the big open room with concrete floors and I see my dad in his desert-coloured uniform. I don’t even know if the room in my memory is actually what it looked like because I was so young but the things I do remember
are enough to bring me peace.
After breaking down during my school’s Remembrance ceremony in my grade 12 year, so many people looked at me and it wasn’t until one of my childhood best friends came up to me and asked me if I was okay, that I became aware that many people were asking why I was crying, so he told them that my dad was in the military. I have no words to express the disappointment I felt at that moment.
To question why anyone would be emotional on a day when you are supposed to be remembering the men and women who fought for our country over the last decades, and thinking about all of the people who made it home but never felt the same after losing their comrades, is just mind-blowing.
But that is what made me want to share my perspectives on Remembrance Day. I want all of the people who have or are still currently serving to know that their sacrifices will always be remembered. I want the families of the fallen to know that their loved ones will be forever honoured and remembered as heroes.
I hope that this can be shared so that those who don’t acknowledge Remembrance Day can see its importance and start this year by something as simple as wearing a poppy starting, go to a ceremony, watch one at home or even simply just take two minutes of silence out of their day to remember the fallen and honour those who died and those who made it home.
Our freedom is free to us but at tremendous costs to our Canadian heroes, the least we can do is pay respects to those who made the ultimate sacrifice and show those who made it home that they and their fallen brothers and sisters will always be honoured and remembered as the heroes they are for the selfless sacrifices they made.
Lest We Forget,
From the Daughter of a Veteran