November 11th is fast
approaching and the question I have had on my mind for the last few
days’ centers around remembrance and what it means to you.
After the unveiling ceremony for the
Afghanistan War Monument here in Grande Prairie, it became very
obvious to me that like everything in life, there are varying degrees
of remembrance and various reasons for remembrance.
Our monument and the 4 individual
memorials that pay tribute to the fallen connected to Grande Prairie
and region attracted approximately 70 citizens for the dedication
ceremony. In spite of having done a lot of marketing on radio,
social media etc. the weather tanked on us and therefore people just
didn’t come out.
My question is a simple one, what moves
you to honour or remember our soldiers and their sacrifices, their
families and their enduring sacrifices?
I ask as a kid who grew up in a
military family. My father did not care of it was 40 below out, on
Remembrance day, unless you were advanced in your years and infirm,
you were at the cenotaph on Remembrance Day, no ifs, ands or buts.
I remember his diatribes well, “Those
soldiers fought in all kinds of weather, conditions, they didn’t
get snow days, or days off while in the battlefield, a little snow
and cold isn’t gonna’ hurt you for an hour.”
When I compare where we live to the
images I see around the world, when I get on my motorcycle or attend
a meeting with other business women, I feel so blessed and grateful
and I know I have to opportunity I have in part because of our
military, their service and their sacrifice and the sacrifices their
families make as a result.
Do you honour Remembrance Day?
Do you attend an indoor or outdoor
ceremony? Tell me why you chose the service you did too please.
If you don’t honour Remembrance Day,
may I ask why? I really, truly would like to try and understand.
Here in Grande Prairie we have two
services on Remembrance Day, I’ll be at the cenotaph, because
that’s what my father would expect of me were he still alive.
I leave you with this snippet of the
poem “For the Fallen”
Editor & Rider
For
the Fallen (stanzas
2-3)
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Robert
Laurence Binyon, by artist William Strang.
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Poem by Robert Laurence Binyon
(1869-1943), published in The Times newspaper on 21st September
1914.
They went
with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall
grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
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