I took this picture at Karin Miller’s house. It is the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. This was when world war one ended. Remembrance Day.
This day shaped my identity as a Canadian. We had a remembrance day service every year at school in which we did two things gracefully. Remembering what war is really like and horrible it is (and that we should not do it again ever if at all possible) and a deep honoring of those who did fight in World War One, Two and the Korean War. Veterans sell poppies (plastic ones) starting just before Halloween and the money goes towards veterans. It is the last holiday in Canada before Christmas (we have a micro version of US thanksgiving on the first Monday of October.)
We had the day off and it was not just a bank holiday but a ‘real holiday’ where shat down. My family often watched services on TV or went to them.
I am sad that I did not get to experience remembrance day now that I am in America – it is deep. The days that are different here are numerous and the way we honor them in Canada are part of my identity. It is interesting to watch how when the days happen and you sort of participate but not participate. They you don’t have your ‘own version’ and elements of your identity slip away.
Just something to think about in identity land.
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