On Friday, when the clock strikes the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year of the new century, we encourage valley residents to be on hand, silent, in tribute to our veterans.
Of all our Canadian statutory holidays, there’s little doubt that Remembrance Day can be considered the purest in intent.
At its simplest, Remembrance Day is a time for veterans and their families to remember and honour comrades, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters who served and possibly died in locales far from home.
For the general public, it is a day when we can honour and show respect for those who served and/or paid the ultimate sacrifice. For non-veterans, little effort is needed to show support; buy and wear a poppy and spend a few minutes at a Legion, or cenotaph, or school, or church, or wherever services are held.
Out of 365 days in a busy, hectic year, donating an hour or so of a single day shouldn’t prove too onerous. Attend a ceremony and show some support for veterans who have done what most of us would not want to do. Shake a veteran’s hand if you feel so moved.
Take your kids to a memorial service.
Remembrance Day is not a tribute to war, after all, but a day to pay tribute to service and sacrifice. This Remembrance Day, the temperature is expected to be above freezing, so weather shouldn’t play a role in turnout. Hey, if our veterans can parade, stand at attention and deal with their memories during the silence, so can the rest of us.
And when it comes to turnout, it appears that over the past few years Remembrance Day events are seeing an increase in attendance; in the Bow Valley and elsewhere.
Perhaps this is because Canadians have been involved in a much-publicized shooting war once again, with our forces fighting and dying in a faraway land; Afghanistan. It’s difficult not to appreciate the gravity and feeling of loss of a ramp ceremony at Kandahar Airfield.
Whether or not you support Canada’s mission in Afghanistan, you can still show support for those who are out there on the sharp edge, and for those who support them.
Because the day remains a sombre event, Remembrance Day, in its purity, is unlike most of our holidays. The only ‘product’ available is a long-standing symbol – the humble poppy – and there is no pressure to spend as with other holidays.
For veterans themselves, generally, Remembrance Day is not a day to glorify war. Far from it. It is simply a day to remember brothers in arms, comrades, those they shared horrible times with.
In the end, most veterans will tell you their service in lands far away had nothing to do with politics, grand schemes, philosophies or international adventuring.
In the end – in the mud and the crud and the blood – they were there in support of the soldier, sailor or airman beside them.
