When I was a little
girl, I attended Remembrance Day services at my school every year, just like we
do.
I
found our Remembrance Day services interesting, but mostly they were a way to
get variety from being in the classroom all day.
I remember we tried
very hard to be quiet during the moment of silence, but I don't think we always stayed
as quiet as we could have. In fact, one year, just before the moment of silence, our principal reminded
us that we didn’t all need to cough during that time.
Yet in my own little
girl way, I did try to take the services seriously. Mostly, however, I was glad
that war had only happened long ago and far away.
I
was glad to remember and pay tribute to those who’d served in it. But I was
also glad it was all over.
There would be no more
war in Canada, I thought.
And
in our country at that time, in my small town, in my school, in my neighborhood,
in my family, there was mostly peace.
No war. Only peace.
But as I grew up, I learned
what you already know -- that there isn’t peace everywhere in the world.
When
I became a teacher and spent a year teaching in a beautiful but difficult country on the other side of the world, I learned what it
feels like to live in a place where you can’t count on having peace around your
home.
I
was never hurt by any of the conflicts there, but I did feel afraid sometimes.
Living there, and
seeing how hard it was for the local people during times of conflict, helped me to
understand a little of what it’s like for people who live in places where there
isn’t always peace.
These days, it seems
like there are wars and conflicts in many places around the world.
Sometimes, it seems
like there’s conflict in most places.
And
I’ve learned enough to know that war hurts everyone around it.
It hurts the armed
forces personnel who get hurt or give their lives.
It
hurts families who lose their homes or their crops or their jobs.
It hurts children
who have to leave their parents in order to move to a safer place.
And
it hurts everyone who lives with constant fear, because they don’t know what’s
going to happen to them, and because they
don’t know whom they can trust.
All
the problems that go along with war make me even more grateful I live in
Canada.
I’m grateful there
are no official wars going on in our country.
One people group
isn’t fighting another group of people, at least not officially.
I’m
very grateful for my home in Alberta. And I’m grateful for our
school.
I feel blessed every
day that I get to teach here, to be with you.
Most
of the time, we Canadians live in peace. We enjoy freedom and we enjoy safety.
Almost every day.
But
the incidents in Ottawa, our own capital city,
just a few weeks ago,
when two soldiers
were killed simply because they were Canadian soldiers,
keeping
the peace in Canada,
reminded me that,
even in Canada, we don’t have peace all the time.
Today,
as we remember the many soldiers who fought in various wars throughout history,
and the many Canadians who go overseas to help people find peace in
other countries--
we also remember
Corporal Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent,
who died in those
senseless attacks in Ottawa just weeks ago.
We’re
grateful the Canadian government is planning to make stricter laws,
so they can
prevent those kinds of acts from happening again.
But here in Alberta,
in our school,
we are safe.
We’re at peace.
The events in Ottawa have nothing to
do with us.
Right?
Actually,
they do.
The events in Ottawa, when those soldiers died, have important lessons
to teach us.
They remind us that
making peace, and keeping peace –
building
safety in our province, our country, and every other place around the world—
has a lot to do with
us.
Peace
and safety start with you and me—
here at our school,
here in our neighborhoods
and at home in our families.
When we’re kind to
other students,
even kids who don’t seem as cool as we want ourselves to be...
When
we accept an invitation for friendship from a classmate,
even if that person isn’t exactly the person we were hoping to be
friends with...
When we’re kind to
someone who’s younger...
or older...
or from another class...
or from someone who has
special needs...
When
we’re kind to someone who has learning challenges,
or who doesn’t always know
how to make friends
and sometimes goes about it in the wrong way...
When we speak kindly
about others behind their backs,
even if those people don't always speak
kindly about us...
When
we take time to help each other—
instead of rushing by to play outside --
or
instead of making fun because that person can’t do it on their own...
When we say “Good
job,” because someone tried hard,
rather than pointing out that they didn’t do
things perfectly...
When
we stand up to someone who’s being unkind, perhaps acting like a bully,
and when we tell them to STOP...
When we solve our problems
in a positive way,
and encourage other people to do the same --
instead of
getting people into trouble or paying them back for how they’ve hurt us...
And,
surprisingly, even when we think kindly about others,
trying to
understand them
instead of putting them down or complaining about them...
When we do those
things, you and I are making peace.
We’re building safety.
We’re building peace
and safety in our classes.
In our school.
On our playground.
In our
neighborhoods.
In our families.
We’re
building peace in our relationships.
We're building peace in our hearts.
And
we’re building the habits of peace.
As we continue to
practice the habits of peace where we are now,
at the age we are now,
we’ll make
those habits stronger.
And
as we grow,
we’ll take the habits of peace-building to other schools we attend,
to relationships with more and more people--
--here in Alberta,
across Canada---
and for some of us, maybe even around the world.
So today, as we look
back and remember, let’s also look forward and remember –
let’s remember the
kind of future we want to have.
We
do want a life of peace and safety for ourselves, for our families, for our
friends.
So let’s keep building
a world that has peace and safety in it.
Let’s build it--
one
thought,
one word,
one action at a time.
-
Laureen F. Guenther
