Today is Remembrance Day. A couple of days ago, my mind was on anything but remembering about the significance of the day when I was thinking to this year’s Remembrance Day. I remembering thinking, "too bad the stores will probably be closed this Sunday". I have a 5h wait in Halifax before my connection flight to Charlottetown - there is a Mountain Equipment Co-op in Halifax. Now in with time to kill at the airport, I finally reflect on this day. My boarding pass which reads 11:10 am also serves as a reminder of the 11th hour to come. I wonder if the Stanfield airport will do something to acknowledge this day.
Terry Kelly, a popular country singer from St-John’s, Newfoundland wrote a song about needing to remember those who served in the war for the “peace” we are privileged with. The song is titled “A Pittance of Time” and here is the description from his official website explaining the motivation for his song.
“On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a drug store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the stores PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.
Terry was impressed with the stores leadership role in adopting the Legions two minutes of silence initiative. He felt that the stores contribution of educating the public to the importance of remembering was commendable.
When eleven o’clock arrived on that day, an announcement was again made asking for the two minutes of silence to commence. All customers, with the exception of a man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.
Terry’s anger towards the father for trying to engage the stores clerk in conversation and for setting a bad example for his child was channelled into a beautiful piece of work called, A Pittance of Time.”
The official video clip and lyrics to this song are below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kX_3y3u5Uo&feature=share&list=PL5BC94E21F6EF3DB8
A Pittance of Time
Written by: Terry Kelly
Published by :Jefter Publishing
They fought and some died for their homeland
They fought and some died now it’s our land
Look at his little child, there’s no fear in her eyes
Could he not show respect for other dads who have died?
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It’s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It’s a pittance of time
God forgive me for wanting to strike him
Give me strength so as not to be like him
My heart pounds in my breast, fingers pressed to my lips
My throat wants to bawl out, my tongue barely resists
But two minutes I will bide
It’s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It’s a pittance of time
Read the letters and poems of the heroes at home
They have casualties, battles, and fears of their own
There’s a price to be paid if you go, if you stay
Freedom is fought for and won in numerous ways
Take two minutes would you mind?
It’s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls all over
May we never forget our young become vets
At the end of the line it’s a pittance of time
It takes courage to fight in your own war
It takes courage to fight someone else’s war
Our peacekeepers tell of their own living hell
They bring hope to foreign lands that the hatemongers can’t kill.
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It’s a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who go over
In peacetime our best still don battle dress
And lay their lives on the line.
It’s a pittance of time
In Peace may they rest, lest we forget why they died.
Take a pittance of time
As I ponder more into my reflection, I realized despite having just attended a Remembrance Day assembly this Friday in school, and despite all the years of Remembrance Day assemblies and ceremonies, I don’t have a profound notion of what war and peace means.
Truthfully, I don’t have a strong nor profound impression of Remembrance Day other than constantly losing my poppy, the poem “In Flanders Field” and the solitary sound of the trumpet or bugle from the “Last Post” and “The Rouse”. It was only today when I went on Wiki did I learn more about these two pieces of music. These two pieces were tunes used in the British Commonwealth military, the “Last Post” to signal the end of the day and “The Rouse” to arouse the solider and get them ready for a new day after waking. The bugle is the original instrument used in the army instead of a trumpet, as it is one of the simplest of the brass instruments and it has no values. I did not know that a “First Post” is played to mark the beginning of the inspection of the fallen to verify that all of those out in the field are indeed dead and not unconscious or in a coma. “Last Post” was to close the military day to indicate that the post has been verified. The “Last Post” also serves to signal to those who were still out on the field wounded or separated that the fighting was done for the day, and to guide them the way to safety if they followed the tune. At night vigil ceremonies, the “Last Post” is used to start the period of silence for the slain to let them rest and not be mutilated, despoiled (by the enemy), or dragged off (by scavengers) during the night. The playing of “The Rouse” in ceremonies symbolize a new day, a future with hope.
Here is a Remembrance day clip with both the “Last Post” and “The Rouse” with a moment of silence.
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