Update- Nov 11,2021
The Canadian flag has been held at half-mast since May 30, 2021. For almost 6 months our nation has been in a state of national sorry. Tomorrow, Nov 12, 2021, the day after Remembrance day. The flag will be raised.
November 11, 2020 is Remembrance day, a day in Canada where we pay respect to our nations veterans and fallen soldiers. On Remembrance day I acknowledge and pay respect to our fallen, but not forgotten. Do you remember? Please do.
At 11am all across Canada people will share a brief moment of silence to remember those sacrifices in collective silence. The Canadian government has pledged a couple CF-18s to fly over some of the major Canadian cities. Planes might make people remember a little bit, but they are loud.
The fact of the matter is that our Remembrance day gatherings won’t be like years past. Tomorrow will be a different remembrance day. Tomorrow the cenotaphs will be empty and shuttered with caution tape.
Virtual Remembrance ?
Our promise as a nation to our fallen soldiers was that we would remember them every year on November 11th. That on this day we would have a solemn moment of silence for them. How do we do that when we are all locked down and isolated? Judging from what I see around us this year, its hard to know if anyone will remember.
2020 has been a hard year, not normal by any stretch of the imagination. The reality of lockdowns and a constant bombardment of media on the subject can be overwhelming and dreadful to all of us. These anxious times make it easy for us to forget the other things of importance and tradition- our past normal. 2020 will definitely be a year to remember, but not in a fond way.
‘Its as if no one is wearing a poppy‘,
This was my thought the other day when I walked down to the line up, so I could enter the store. I personally haven’t seen that many poppies on people, I am too concerned with their masks. That is where my eyes gaze, so I can remember the importance of being safe- in my minds eye.
According to reports there might be something to my observation. This year it is estimated that tens of thousands of dollars could be lost due to lack of donation poppy boxes. There are no volunteer community members standing outside of stores collecting for them. It seems that we don’t have the space in our lives right now to hold on to this age old tradition. This is like many other traditions that are disappearing from our daily lives, for example seeing relatives an friends.
Last year Don Cherry, a famous icon of sports commentary, was fired for ‘highly charged’ commentary. Don made the politically incorrect term of referring to new immigrants as ‘you people’ and told them to go out and buy a poppy, to remember the sacrifices that were made. Perhaps Don Cherry was talking to all of us… one year later. Have we forgotten?
Try to remember our freedom and our normal way of life, remember that normalcy; remember that this is exactly what those brave young soldiers fought for-throughout history, for normalcy. They fought for our lives, so that we all could prosper.
The Book of Remembrance
Peace Tower and the Books of Remembrance
I once had a a dream where I was a Japanese pilot in world war two flying a Mitsubishi Zero. I got shot down in the Pacific. I remember crashing into the sea near a tropical island and swimming to the surface. There was a beach in front of me and then I woke up. I wasn’t dead, not yet.
About a decade ago I found myself in Ottawa for a academic conference of sorts. I had some good contacts and was lucky enough to have several private tours and VIP access to some of Canada more interesting landmarks, and museums, during the off hours.
Every Remembrance day I am reminded about the time that I visited the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill. It is a grand and imposing room, full of old British colonial architecture. Its a beautiful room designed to showcase just one thing: The Book of Remembrance.
Locked in a glass box, the book is only open on a couple pages to be viewed by the public. There are seven books just like this, and in these books are the names of over 118,000 Canadian war dead.
What made this particular trip special, and something I am reminded of on every remembrance day, was the particular page the book was open to and what name was written on the top. Clear and plain to see my eyes were directly confronted with my full name, the first, middle, and last. I have always been emotional at this coincidence. I was moved that sudden egoic realization that it could have been me who died in some far away European country side. It could have been you.
Seeing your name in the equivalency of the book of the dead is not something one forgets. Remembrance day will always be a day that I am reminded of what is at stake in this world, how precious life and our freedom and liberty is, and how lucky it is that I have never had to fight in a war.
It is important to remember the soldiers, not the war. War is not an object to romanticize, but it is something for us to know. We remember it so we don’t forget it. We remember the inhumanity of war, so that we don’t lose our humanity, and so we don’t lose anymore young soldier humans again.
Do You Remember?
The question is up in the air. The new normal is truly abnormal, a hyperreality, where what is real is confused with simulation. We don’t know what the desert of the real looks like anymore, we have built large structures, systems, and media that blocks our view. We are in the matrix, if you haven’t picked up on to what I was alluding. This is the virtual world, it is not the real world, virtual memorial services just won’t cut it. Please remember you people.
“Do not go gentle into that good night”
Freeman's Free Speech 
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