Hi,
On November 11, 1918, the fighting on the Western Front (a 700-kilometre stretch of land through France and Belgium where the Allied and German armies had been locked in brutal trench warfare) officially stopped.
The First World War was not formally over, but the German and Allied forces had signed an Armistice, an agreement to stop shooting so they could negotiate peace.
In 1919, King George V asked the British Empire to pause for two minutes at the exact hour the ceasefire took effect: 11:00 AM on the 11th day of the 11th month.
Over the years, that moment of truce evolved from a mark of a specific war’s end into Remembrance Day, a nationwide commemoration of every Canadian who has ever served and died in military service.
In Canada, we use the phrase "lest we forget" as a warning and a promise. It means we should not let the past slip away. It is our pledge to remember the members of the Canadian Armed Forces and veterans who died in the World Wars, the Korean War, and the conflicts and peace operations that followed.
Millions of Canadians wear red poppy pins in November. The symbol comes from John McCrae’s poem, "In Flanders Fields," written during the First World War. It is a small, visible way to acknowledge that our daily safety and freedoms came at an enormous human cost. More than 1.6 million Canadians have served in the military, and over 118,000 of them never came home.
On November 11, communities across the country gather at local cenotaphs and memorials.
If you attend a ceremony, you will hear a bugler play the "Last Post," followed by two minutes of silence at 11:00 AM. A second bugle call, "Reveille," breaks the quiet to symbolize hope and rebirth.
You will also hear someone read a stanza from Laurence Binyon’s 1914 poem, "For the Fallen":
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
We will remember them.
The words "lest we forget" that are often mentioned leading up to and on Remembrance Day go back to an 1897 poem by Rudyard Kipling. Some point out that forgetting is natural for humans. We get busy, time passes, and memories fade. That is why we benefit from this day. We can choose to make a conscious effort to keep these stories alive, because the people who lived them can no longer tell them themselves.
It's worth reflecting on the following lesson: remembrance is an active verb.
True respect isn't just a feeling we have while going about our day. It requires us to stop and pay attention. We keep their memory alive by choosing not to let it fade.
Here are three ways to take action over the next week:
- Spend five minutes watching the "Remembering Those Who Served" short video from the Aristotle Foundation to reflect on the history and meaning of Remembrance Day: Watch the video
- Find the times and locations for the City of Toronto’s official Remembrance Day services on November 11: Plan your attendance
- On Saturday, November 14, we are hosting our ExperienceTO: Bay Street Historical Tour. We are meeting in front of Old City Hall right beside the Cenotaph, Toronto’s primary monument to those who died in military service. We will start there before we walk south to the waterfront to trace Bay Street’s history.
Thank you for taking the time to read and reflect.
Until next time,
Alex Rășcanu
P.S. If you'd like to read the past e-newsletters focused on life lessons, you can find them here.
P.P.S. See you at one of the upcoming monthly ExperienceTO historical tours, such as the Bay Street one on Saturday, November 14.
