When I was in school, we used to have a Remembrance Day service every year. The local minister, who was a WWII veteran, would come to give us a sermon. The kids in cadets would dress in their uniforms and stand next to the cenotaph (also know as a vertical cardboard box and a horizontal cardboard box covered in white paper). We would sing "O Canada" and "O God Our Help in Ages Past".

One year, the principal decided it would be better for us to have a Remembrance Day program over the intercom system, concluding with us reading the names of all of the men from our village who had fought in a war. He didn't count on the fact that he had chosen a bunch of junior high goofballs to put it on. Thanks to the comedic stylings of Rene Wuttunee and Darin Marchewka, I busted out laughing for the whole school to hear five names from the end of the list. That night, on the school bus, a seven year old told me that, "Mrs. Banach said you are a bad person, and not to be like you".

When you were in grade six, it was your responsibility to memorize and recite "In Flanders' Fields". I still remember the entire poem to this day ... along with Mrs. Reade saying, "In Flanders' Fields the poppies BLOW! Who said 'grow'? GROW is at the end! They blow, then they grow ... again". We all thought, "Who would know the difference?". I'll tell you who. Everyone from grade seven up, and everyone else who ever had to memorize that poem - that's who.

The grade one kids would contribute by singing "See the Poppies", which was "Frère Jacques" with different words:

See the poppies!
See the poppies!
Oh so red!
Oh so red!
Growing on the hillside!
Growing on the hillside!
Soldiers lay dead!
Soldiers lay dead!

(Wow. That sure took a turn for the worse quickly, didn't it?)

We remember!
We remember!
On this day!
On this day!
Soldiers on the hill side!
Soldiers on the hill side!
Far away.
Far away.

From the time I was in grade 7 until I graduated grade 12, my responsibility was to recite the reading, "What About Tomorrow?" every year. I did not have to memorize this, but I remember every word of it to this day, just because I had to do it so many times. Most people thought that I wrote it. My own mother once told me that even she had assumed this.

However, I know that I did not write it ... because I can remember Stacey Sachko reciting "What About Tomorrow?" when I was in grade three. While I used to recite "What About Tomorrow?" in a thoughtful manner, Stacey used to deliver it as furiously as a fire-and-brimstone preacher. I can remember being pressed back against my chair, totally terrified, resolving I was never going to remove my poppy again. The next day, it fell off my coat when we went grocery shopping, and I nearly cried.

Today you wear the poppy, but what about tomorrow?

Will you wear it then?

Or will it lie forgotten until next year?

Many years ago, men fought to make us agree.

Today we'll wear a poppy, and remember those men, but what about tomorrow?

Will the families be able to forget the husband, son or brother, who went away, and never came home?

Today we'll wear a poppy, but what about tomorrow?

Will the disabled men be able to forget the arms, legs or eyes they lost in the battle?

Today we'll wear a poppy, and remember ...

But what about tomorrow?

This year, I went with Christina Booth to church and to see Flags of Our Fathers. This movie tells the true story of the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima, and how the men in the famous photograph were effected by the events that followed. It was based on a book written by the son of the one the flag raisers. I highly recommend this film. It did not glorify the war or efforts to raise funds for the war effort, but it portrayed the men who fought at Iwo Jima as heroes because of the content of their character and their resiliancy in the face of what they had to endure during battle.