Why Remembrance Day Matters More Than Ever Today…100 Years Later

“Remembering is painful, it’s difficult, but it can be inspiring and it can give wisdom.”  ― Shannon L. Alder

This Remembrance Day will mark 100 years since the official end of World War I, and yet its importance seems more profound than ever before.  War and human suffering continues throughout the globe, and as we watch it online or from a distance, we can easily forget that Canadians serving in our military are someone’s child, or someone’s parent.  We ask a lot of our peacekeepers, and Remembrance Day is not a day dedicated to supporting war, but as a reminder of the atrocities that have been committed, so that we do not allow them to happen again.

Genealogy website Ancestry recently released a survey that found that 56 percent of Canadian respondents had no idea as to the importance of this year’s Remembrance Day.  It also stated that 38 percent of respondents did not know if they had a relative who served in war.  Perhaps, this is why schools continue their tradition of Remembrance Day ceremonies to ensure that children have an awareness of the true horrors of war.

On November 11, 1918, the world watched as the call for peace echoed throughout Europe where Canadian troops valiantly supported the Allied forces.  The poppy symbolizes remembrance and is worn on Nov. 11 in honor of a poem written by John McCare, a Canadian doctor in the military.  The poem is titled “In Flanders Fields” and speaks of the poppies that grew in the Flemish graveyards where soldiers were buried.

As many of you are aware, Myles and I love real estate. We enjoy helping buyers, sellers and investors with buying their first home, downsizing, selling a rental property, land redevelopment, or simply providing advice to clients about the real estate process in general. If truth be told, I spend most of my time either working in real estate, reading publications about real estate or studying real estate. I truly love how “tangible” real estate is as an investment – especially when you can live in it, touch it, and enjoy it (unlike stocks and bonds). However, on Sunday, November 11th, I would ask that Realtors not hold open houses, and that for the entire hour of 11am on the 11th month of the 11th day of 2018, that we refrain from discussing real estate at all and instead, maintain a 2 minute period of silence to commemorate the lives of those Canadians who have given their lives.

It is always a proud moment to be a Canadian in November, especially when you see a young child wearing a poppy and they can tell you the symbolism of it and how poppies once grew in Flanders where countless lives were lost there during WWI. With all of the violence and uprisings taking place throughout the world today, it certainly seems that having 2 minutes of silence to show gratitude for our country is a small act that we can each do.

I will proudly wear my poppy as a symbol of my love for Canada, and as a symbol for the gratitude I have for all of the men and women that have died in an effort to make Canada the best country in the world.  In closing, I thought that I would share with you the “In Flanders Fields” poem that so many of us grew up reciting each Remembrance Day.

“In Flanders Fields”

by John McCrae, May 1915

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.

With Gratitude,
Brian & Myles McCullough
www.mmshomes.com