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

If nothing else today, please watch this video

I did a blog about this short movie quite a while ago.
I'm blogging it again because it was posted on Youtube yesterday by its creator Daniel M. Kanemoto for all to finally see again.
It hasn't been available for a little while.

I don't know why I do this to myself but I watched it again as soon as I found out.
And it made me cry again as it does every time I watch it.
So emotional. Wow.
The first time I saw it was when a friend sent me the link to it a few years ago.
That Remembrance Day I forwarded the link to everyone I know. I'm certain many tears flowed among my friends.
What talent it takes to make a grown man cry over an animated film...

Have a look.

A Letter from the Western Front
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbbROCFhjtI

You can read about it here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209097/ and Daniel here http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0437548/bio .

Please share your comments with Daniel to show your appreciation of his work and tell others to watch it too.

Thank you for sharing it with us again Daniel.
But stop making me cry! :)

Stay well,
Tim

To Those Who Wait...

I truly want to thank those of you who dropped in and left good wishes the other day.
Please accept my apologies for taking so long to do my follow up post.

The Remembrance Day service at Victoria Hall in New Maryland went very well.
One thing I wasn't thrilled about was that for the first time in all the years I have attended this ceremony they decided not to have chairs for those on the stage.
You recall that I was very sick the entire day prior and really could have used a seat. I almost took an involuntary nap a couple of times but stayed upright thankfully.

My reading expressed Remembrance Day completely.
It was quite short though.
So short that I don't mind typing it out for you.

Act of Remembrance
Read by Councillor Tim Scammell

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.

I have found out that this passage is part of the poem "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon (1869-1943).

It is unlikely that I could have found a more fitting passage and hope that everyone really listened to the words and thought about their meaning.
I tried as hard as I could to speak in such a way that might make people do so.
I think it worked but I was too nervous to look up from the paper to see.
The kids told me I did very well. Those little guys made me so proud by behaving perfectly and doing everything when the rest of the people did.
This was the first time in their lives that neither Cheryl or myself were with them during the ceremony.
They're little men now. I wish they would stop growing up but I'm happy that they will have the chance to do so and become anything they choose to be.

Could we ever imagine the thoughts of the mothers and fathers of the boys (they were only boys) as they watched their childen leave home to fight in the wars?

Nothing could possibly describe a parent's fear that their child may not come home alive.
In these times it's difficult to imagine but it was common not very long ago.

I want to remind everyone of something that is more easily identifiable to us.
Remembrance Day is just as much about the loss of men and women in modern times.
On October 2nd 2003, a young Canadian soldier Sergeant Robert Alan Short was killed when the jeep he was in drove over a landmine outside of Kabul in Afghanistan.
That is Robert in the photo above.
He was only 42 years old at the time. Only slightly older than me.
I will always remember his passing with great sadness.
You see, Sergeant Short was from Fredericton.
He was buried in a little cemetery only a short way down the road from my house. The funeral was one of the largest and saddest events I have ever seen.
Some friends of ours at the time had known Robert for many years from their time at Petawawa, Ontario in the Forces together.
When his body was flown back to Canada it was televised across the country. Our friends had to send their son over to play with our boys while they watched it to spare him the emotion.
The most powerful memory I have of Sergent Short's passing is that on November 11, 2003 his wife, son and daughter were at the Remembrance Day service in New Maryland.
Just over 1 month later!

I felt such sadness that day as I saw Robert's family and the overpowering grief they were feeling.
I remember looking at his son's face and wondering if he could ever feel happiness again.
At the end I shook his hand and he gave me a small smile in appreciation.
He didn't know me but I wished I could have been his best friend.

On November 11, 2008 Robert's family was there again, as every year.
I am very happy to say that his son was smiling this year. He was there with his own little one and it was clear to see he has been feeling much happiness.

I smiled when I saw them together.

Robert would be so proud.

Tim

Lest We Forget

I really wanted to get into my Dr. Seuss blogs but they'll have to wait for a few more days.
The past 7 days or so have certainly not been very good for me.
My mother in Ontario has had some setbacks in her progress to recovery so Cheryl has gone to be with her for just over a week.
I would like to have been there with her but one of us should stay with the kids and I don't have any vacation time at work.
Cheryl has been there every day with Mom which seems to be helping Mom's spirits.

Today I was to be at work all day. The kids have a PD day (right before a holiday day, imagine that.)
I had a sitter all lined up. I just had to drop them off in the morning.
It was all set.
Then it all went bad last night.

Around 10:30 my stomach didn't feel quite right.
From then on I was up every 45 minutes or so. It hasn't been nice at all.
Then one of the kids started.
What an adventurous day we've had!

I don't care how I feel tomorrow though.
For the first time in my life I will get to speak at a Remembrance Day ceremony.
It will be at Victoria Hall in New Maryland.
I have this honour as a Village Councillor and I am tremendously proud.

Remembrance Day is one of the most important days to me. I think about relatives and strangers who left home to fight and offer their lives so that Canadians they would never meet could live freely.
This is the least we can do for them. I wish it could be more.
Upset stomachs didn't stop these brave souls from marching ahead. It won't stop me from doing the best public speaking of my life tomorrow.
My sons will be sitting in the front row seats watching me. I'll make them proud of their daddy.
Almost as proud as I am of our brave soldiers.

This poem is the best ever written in my mind.
It always puts a lump in my throat.
When The Last Post plays the tears are always in my eyes.


In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

- John McCrae

I hope to see you all tomorrow.

Tim

A Website of Note as Remembrance Day Approaches

Several years ago my best friend Mike pointed me to watch a video on Atomfilms called "Letter from the Western Front".
This animated short was done in 1999 by a young man based in New York City named Daniel M. Kanemoto.
I can't begin to describe how touching this film was.
It follows a young soldier named John as he writes a letter to his love back in Milwaukee.
I have taken this plot summary from The Internet Movie Database - www.imdb.com.
(I would bookmark that if I were you. It has everything about every movie or show ever made.)
"In Belleau Wood, France, during the Great War, a soldier named John writes a letter home to his wife Sara in Milwaukee. He writes that her picture "helps me remember what it was like to be me." He tells her about sorties into No Man's Land, and that they have orders tonight to charge. Then, his letter becomes a report of that charge: toward an armed German soldier who doesn't fire, even when John reaches him and jumps into the trench beside him. What happens next brings silence and an end to the letter.
I won't bother ruining it for you but to say that what happens brings silence is an understatement. In reality it brings tears.
After I watched it on Atomfilms I sent the link to my family and friends.
My sister had recently been to France and the beaches of Normandy. She told me that it was tremendously emotional, especially at the monument.
When Hayley watched the film in struck a nerve.
I have not been to Normandy and it made me cry. I can only imagine how Hayley felt.
The bad news. I have spent ages looking for this video online again. For some reason it is gone from Atomfilms and nowhere else seems to have it.
The good news. During my hunt I discovered Daniel M. Kanemoto's myspace page at http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=43004224.
I was glad to see that Daniel has a new film entitled "Articles of War" out.
I watched the trailers at www.articles-of-war.com and this looks like another highly emotional film.
This lad is very very talented. It appears that he is on his way to the big time.
His blog discusses him sending copies of the new DVD to film festivals everywhere.
This may explain the disappearance of the film from Atomfilms.
It is likely that we need to pay to see Mr. Kanemoto's work.
In my opinion that is just fine. His work is worth any price.
Have a look.

Tim