I have sworn off facebook but this is wrong and needs to be addressed. A motion has recently been passed in Ottawa declaring Nov. 11 a national holiday. In my mind this is a bad idea. In both Buford and Mississauga on Nov. 11 when I spoke at the Cenotaph children from schools would be bussed to the Cenotaph where they learned about the horrors of war. In Burford the family of one Canadian pilot gave me his medals and the telegraph that the family received announcing their son had been shot down over France. I will never forget the line up of children that came forward to hold that scared piece of paper. Then Rita Mophat a WW II,vet one of the ladies memorized in Brantford’s cenotaph came forward to speak. Make it a holiday and all of those teaching moments will be lost. If I can make the following analogy, Good Friday and Easter Monday are holidays, yet how many students can articulate the significance of those days, even if you remove the religious aspect of those days there is an historical significance worthy of consideration. I would also point out teachers have clearly stated that they feel students do not have enough time in the classroom to cover the mandated curriculum. This will be a teaching moment that is lost, creating chaos for parents struggling to find daycare. This idea needs someone to address it. It’s wrong if I can quote from the diary of a WW1 vet, “Barbed wire, no man’s lands and the use of poisonous gas obliterated any notion that war was noble.” From Flander’s Fields,” If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flander’s Fields.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 18:21:17 +0000
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