Remembering to Remember

As I do every year at this time I am dedicating my blog post to November 11th - Remembrance Day.

To start I ask that everyone reading this to please visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32bpraBf00A and watch Daniel's poignant movie "Letter From The Western Front".

I've blogged about this movie and its creator Daniel Kanemoto several times and will continue to do so.

My best friend directed me to the original link for it several years ago and it has become one of my favourite videos of all time.
I know that it will put a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye.
I realize that it's just a video but the message is powerful and should be taken to heart by everyone, no matter what their nationality is.

I'm not just talking about on Remembrance Day or Veteran's Day but every single day.

A couple of days ago CBC Radio in Fredericton played the audio of this Rick Mercer rant titled "Remember to Remember". I was able to see the piece on his show last night and copied the text below from his website at RickMercer.com.

It may not be proper etiquette for me to use his rant in my blog post but I'm going to do so anyway because Rick has captured the sentiment so well and summed it up better than I believe that I could.


Please read this and take it to heart...

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.

It only takes a minute to stop and remember those who fought so bravely and have paid the ultimate price in order for us to live our lives as we choose to do so.

The silence of one minute is loud enough to echo for eternity.

Please remember to remember and never forget.

Stay well,
Tim