Nov 11 ramblings
...so I got up obscenely early (by comparison with previous days) and headed out to the cenotaph up the street to take part in remembrance day ceremonies. As I reached the corner, I noticed a distinct lack of people and knew I was in the wrong place for the big military to-do. Turns out the cenotaph, which I had passed by a few times but not stopped to examine very closely, was to commemorate the service of Montrealers in French military campaigns during WWII. A little too specific to warrant a gathering, I suppose, but still a little odd that there was no one there.
Since I'd arrived well in advance of 11:11 I decided to wander around the adjacent park for a while. As I walked I thought about how it really is a different world now, and it's only been about 60 years; less than a generation. All my grandparents fought in WWII, and to imagine them doing so always seems a little unbelievable to me. I mean, how could they have taken part in something that seems so distant, relegated to history books and old movies?
Sun shone through the trees, but a freezing cold wind continually swept around me. The puddles from the previous days' rainfall now each had a thick sheet of ice like cut glass on top of them. In the distance I could hear the old prop-planes doing the flypast of the actual ceremony somewhere on the other side of the city.
Remembrance Day always makes me think about my friends as well as my relatives. I think about how we have the chance to not take part in a war like that, and how we're lucky not to have to. In so many other places there are people who have no choice but to fight, and I so often take it for granted that I can work as an artist, not having to worry about my safety or my family's safety, not having to learn how to fire a gun or to fight off an agressor. I don't have to worry that I may never see a friend again because their life is in danger. I hope we all know how lucky we are, and appreciate that.
As I made my way in a large circle through the park, around the man-made lake, I passed a grandfather playing with his grandson. The dance piece I'm here in Montreal for deals largely with the idea of family history, primarily in a native context. One of the characters talks about his grandmother and grandfather and their experiences as Canada was colonized by Europeans. They also fought in a conflict, and ultimately lost.
Back at the cenotaph, my watch ticks over to 11:11. I stand there and think about my grandfathers and grandmothers, and what they did, and how I think they fought in the last justifiable war, and how I'm not sure if I would have participated if I had been in their place. On the nearby street, traffic whisked by and people hurried past. I found it odd that there wasn't more stillness to the 'moment of silence'.
So hey, all (probably five of) you who are reading this blog: I just wanted to say that I appreciate you being around, and that I have had the opportunity to get to know you all. And I hope we never have to make the same choices our relatives did, and that we can somehow help to stop all this stupid pointless fighting that's going on everywhere else in the world. Have a good Remembrance Day...
Since I'd arrived well in advance of 11:11 I decided to wander around the adjacent park for a while. As I walked I thought about how it really is a different world now, and it's only been about 60 years; less than a generation. All my grandparents fought in WWII, and to imagine them doing so always seems a little unbelievable to me. I mean, how could they have taken part in something that seems so distant, relegated to history books and old movies?
Sun shone through the trees, but a freezing cold wind continually swept around me. The puddles from the previous days' rainfall now each had a thick sheet of ice like cut glass on top of them. In the distance I could hear the old prop-planes doing the flypast of the actual ceremony somewhere on the other side of the city.
Remembrance Day always makes me think about my friends as well as my relatives. I think about how we have the chance to not take part in a war like that, and how we're lucky not to have to. In so many other places there are people who have no choice but to fight, and I so often take it for granted that I can work as an artist, not having to worry about my safety or my family's safety, not having to learn how to fire a gun or to fight off an agressor. I don't have to worry that I may never see a friend again because their life is in danger. I hope we all know how lucky we are, and appreciate that.
As I made my way in a large circle through the park, around the man-made lake, I passed a grandfather playing with his grandson. The dance piece I'm here in Montreal for deals largely with the idea of family history, primarily in a native context. One of the characters talks about his grandmother and grandfather and their experiences as Canada was colonized by Europeans. They also fought in a conflict, and ultimately lost.
Back at the cenotaph, my watch ticks over to 11:11. I stand there and think about my grandfathers and grandmothers, and what they did, and how I think they fought in the last justifiable war, and how I'm not sure if I would have participated if I had been in their place. On the nearby street, traffic whisked by and people hurried past. I found it odd that there wasn't more stillness to the 'moment of silence'.
So hey, all (probably five of) you who are reading this blog: I just wanted to say that I appreciate you being around, and that I have had the opportunity to get to know you all. And I hope we never have to make the same choices our relatives did, and that we can somehow help to stop all this stupid pointless fighting that's going on everywhere else in the world. Have a good Remembrance Day...
posted by Mike at 12:37 PM
4 Comments:
Chor Leoni... that's a nice way to spend an evening. They're a good group, and a good group of guys, if my Chan Ctr memory serves.
Interesting to know you felt awkward in the crowd before the show began. Music is a great unifier though. And I guess that's something about Remembrance Day too, it's not exclusionary; we all know someone who's fought in a war.
More is the pity, I suppose.
You're amazing
Haha, what brought that on? Thanks, wonderful girl...
This Rememberance Day made me truly appreciate our interpretation of Nov. 11th. They call it Armistice over here in London, and don't do anything for it. I realize now that Canada's emphasis on personally internalizing the concept of war makes it an important day.
I have always been strangely proud of the similarities my grandparents and I have with sticking to our values, as it landed them at the helm of the Polish National Underground, which always sounded so dramtic and important. But I've realized that doing so was a decision with many consequences that stretched out decades.
If my circumstances were different, what would I end up in the middle of? And what would those consequences be? In my world of frivolity, ambition, and choice, it makes me feel very lucky that I haven't had to find out.
Post a Comment
<< Home