At 11 o’clock today, Remembrance Day, I will be standing in front of my students. Most of them are in their twenties. Few were born before 2000.
I will ask them about their relationship to Remembrance Day. I will tell them about my grandfather and the significance Remembrance Day has for me.
I will ask them to give a minute for reflection.
As we move farther from the world wars and the veterans who fought, I feel like the lessons of those wars are diluted. For many of us, war is something we see on our screens. It’s not something that happens to us. Yet we know there is trauma, violence and injustice happening right this moment in the world. Some of it very close to home.
Whether we are able to remember or not, Remembrance Day is a moment for reflection. Nov. 11 is not just for respect and recognition of those who have fought and died. It is for remembering the lessons they have taught us, so that we can do our part to create a world of peace, respect, care.
This is the lesson I am trying to share with my students today.
I want to write a message of hope this Remembrance Day. But for the last year, I have watched Israel’s war against Palestine and then last week the American election. It’s hard to find hope.
Self-interest. Power. Capitalism. Racism. They seem to be winning.
Over the past year, I have felt like public opinion has shifted. More people seem to recognize the wrong of Israel’s attacks. But our governments have not changed course. And watching the election last week, nothing has changed. I feel like people voted to maintain the status quo. To maintain their own status. I worry that Canada is on the same path.
No one wants to be inconvenienced.
More than 80 years ago, during World War 2, my grandfather left his family here in Canada. His wife. His three children. His home. He went to Europe and fought a war. His life was deeply affected for people he didn’t know, but for a cause he—and our government—believed in. I think about my grandfather.
I think about Indigenous peoples, Black people, Palestinian people whose lives are impacted everyday by injustice and inequality. I cannot speak for them, but I believe that for some it doesn’t matter who’s in charge. Liberal, PC, NDP, Democrat, Republican, they’re all the same. Perpetuating the same systems and the same injustices.
I think about myself. War, racism, discrimination, inequality, poverty–the evils of our world don’t impact me (so far). I get up in the morning. Get my daughter ready for school and go about my day. What reason do I have to disrupt my comfortable life?
In the aftermath of last week’s election, I have seen messages that we need community. We need to not rely on our governments and instead rely on each other. Not ourselves. Each other. We need to come together and work to change the world. I am feeling that strongly this Remembrance Day.
I think about my grandfather, World War 2 and Remembrance Day. I think about Ellie and her future in a world where people care most about themselves and are not willing to help others, to stop injustice, to change the world. What type of world do I want to be part of? How can I disrupt my comfortable life to help make that world happen?
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