A Remembrance Day Talk To Schoolchildren

I've been asked to give a talk tomorrow at the Canadian-British grade school in the Crown Village of Ralston, the married quarter patch at CFB Suffield. MP+

I think it's great that you at Ralston School are having this Remembrance Day service, because it's really important. I am sure that lots of people have told you at.

I also think its great that you are doing this service because it's a really hard thing to do. I mean, think about it. It is a hard thing to do, if you really think about it. It's hard if you really think about what you are remembering.

What are we really remembering today? We're remembering young people, not much older than you, who died in wars. We're remembering families that had to leave their homes and run for their lives. We're remembering kids that had to grow up never knowing who their moms or dads were.

These are hard, difficult things to remember, if we really think about them. So wouldn't it be easier if we didn't bother with Remembrance Day? Would it be so bad, really, if we just forget all about this stuff?

Well, what would happen if we forgot other things? What would happen if we forgot about our families and our friends? What would we be like if we forgot our parents, or our teachers, and all the things they've taught us? What would we be like if we forgot where we live?

If we forgot these things, it would be hard for us, wouldn't it? We wouldn't be the same people we are now. We'd be in a lot of trouble, not knowing who we are or what we were supposed to do.

So what sort of people would we be if we forgot about Remembrance Day?

If we forgot the soldiers who died in wars, and if we forgot about our veterans, we would have trouble being brave, or loyal, because we wouldn't know what bravery and loyalty looks like.

If we forgot about the soldiers who died in wars, and if we forgot about our veterans, and what they fought and died for, we wouldn't care about other people so much. We wouldn't really care about helping other people if they were attacked or if they were suffering.

If we forgot about all the innocent people who have died in wars, we wouldn't know how horrible wars really are. We might even think that wars were fun or exciting, instead of thinking that fighting is something we do only when we really have to.

So well done, Ralston School. Thank you for remembering and for thinking about these difficult things. Because, really, Remembrance Day isn't just about remembering them and how they died. Remembrance Day is also about remembering who we are and how we want to live.





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