Today I Will Remember: 11/11/11

Today, on the 11th day of the 11th month, I will pause at the 11th hour, along with many others in my country, for two minutes of silence. It is a tribute, albeit a woefully inadequate one, to those who have fallen in battle, those who have given their own lives to make mine possible, and those who strive to uphold our freedoms.

I didn’t always think of Remembrance Day in such a positive light. My family didn’t pay much attention to the occasion when I was growing up and, in the arrogance of youth,  I decided war in all its forms was wrong — ergo, remembering it was also wrong. My friends and I boycotted the day and eschewed the wearing of the symbolic poppy. It wasn’t until I had my own children that the vastness of the occasion hit home.

My children have grown up in a world of unprecedented freedoms, with more potential and possibilities than any other generation before them. For the most part, they have been raised in safety and security,  and they may look forward to futures that hold a reasonable expectation of the same. Other children, other mothers, have not been so lucky. Knowing that, knowing how very, very fortunate I am, has made me deeply, eternally grateful to those who have made my children’s lives, their freedoms, possible.

And so today I will stand beneath the bare trees, huddled against a cold November wind, and I will listen to the plaintive sounds of the bugle threading over the hushed gathering. At the 11th hour, I will observe the two minutes of silence that we accord to those who have fought and those who still fight for the freedom and safety of our world.

I will try to imagine how it must have been for boys, no older than my daughters are now, to be in trenches thousands of miles from home, cold and wet and terrified.

I will think of the many men and women — too many — who have made that ultimate sacrifice, even recently, in our world’s clumsy attempts to create peace.

I will weep for their families: for the sons and daughters who have lost parents; for the mothers and fathers who have lost children; and for the brothers and sisters who have lost one another.

And I will thank each and every one of them with all my heart.


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Comments

One response to “Today I Will Remember: 11/11/11”

  1. Suzie Ivy Avatar

    What a beautiful post!

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