Dear editor,
My family and I attended the Remembrance Day ceremony in Courtenay yesterday; our son Logan was part of a group from his sixth grade class at Royston Elementary to sing at the ceremony.
The weather was beautiful, and it was a delight to see him take an interest in participating.
However, when the ceremony was over we left both confused and disappointed. We had thought that we were attending a Remembrance Day ceremony to honour our veterans, those Canadians who had fought for our freedom, and those who had given the supreme sacrifice for their country.
Instead, however, we attended a ceremony that came off more as a sermon of God than as a ceremony to remember our soldiers who died in the line of duty. As we were getting back into our car, Logan asked, “I’m confused... what do Israel and the Philistines have to do with remembering Canadian veterans and soldiers on Remembrance Day?”
Our sons also asked and wondered why someone would say that in order to create world peace we should pray to God first, pray to God second, and then only thirdly look to create peace within ourselves, our family, and our communities. “Why would we not start with creating peace within ourselves, and then work to spread that peace to others?” they asked.
While we ended up having an interesting discussion about Remembrance Day and Canadian veterans in the car on the way home, I’m still feeling that the reason we had this discussion arose for the wrong reason, and that sufficient proper respect was not given to those soldiers who gave their lives for us.
Graham TerMarsch
Royston