The Editor,
At the Remembrance Day ceremony last week at the Coquitlam cenotaph, my nine-year-old son leaned over asked, “Mom, what time is it?” I gave him a glare and whispered “Ssshhh, it’s 11 o’clock, time for silence.”
He looked around, then tugged at my arm and said, “It can’t be Mom, there are too many people talking. Are you sure it’s 11?”
I was startled by his observation but it was true, the crowd seemed oblivious to the fact that two minutes of silence was underway. The announcement, I thought, was perfectly clear. I heard it, my husband and son heard it, the man to my right heard it, yet so many people continued conversations like they were in a coffee shop.
The lady next to me was on the phone asking the person on the other end to come down and meet her. Two men were discussing what they were going to do for the rest of day and some were laughing at a tale that was being told. The chatter was endless.
Finally, someone spoke up and asked everyone to stop talking, then my husband shouted, “It’s silence!”
At first, I was embarrassed but I realized he was perfectly right to be angered. He was simply saying, “Show some respect. Men and women died and continue to die for my freedom, your freedom. For two minutes out of the year, stop talking.”
I don’t want to discourage anyone from attending Remembrance Day ceremonies but I have to ask, if you show up next year, turn off your phones, discuss your plans later, listen to the service, not about the latest YouTube video. The honour of Canadian men and women depend on it. We need them to know that what they did and are currently doing is recognized, the people of war and peace-keeping missions deserve our respect so please, I implore you, give it to them.
It is our responsibility to not only teach our youth about Remembrance Day but how to be respectful during the service. Do your duty and be silent for two minutes.
Just as King George V issued a proclamation calling for a two-minute silence: “All locomotion should cease, so that, in perfect stillness, the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on reverent remembrance of the glorious dead.”
We, too, shall be silent and remember.
Nicole Darling, Coquitlam
