Hark! A Vagrant - My Longwinded Remembrance Day

Last year I spent Remembrance Day in the company of David, a former sea captain who volunteered at the maritime museum where I worked. It being a rainy Sunday morning way after the end of the tourist season, the place was empty anyway I doubt anyone noticed or cared that David turned the sign to 'closed' just before 11 and shut off the radio that was playing in the gift shop. It was just he and myself, and though normally David is the sort of man who wears a hat that reads 'ancient mariner,' drives a motorized wheelchair with a pirate flag on it, and has told me more than a few bawdy jokes I would balk at because he looks like someone's grandpa, he is very serious on matters concerning public appreciation of history - after all, he is a volunteer at a Canadian museum, possibly one of the most thankless services anyone does in this country and yet responsible for keeping the doors open on an alarming majority of heritage institutions.

David took a bell in his hands and announced to the room (empty save for the two of us), that there was to be a moment of silence for the fallen. I felt compelled to fold my hands in front of me and look at the floor. After this he rang the bell (I suppose neither of us had a rifle to fire in the air, shooting anything would have shattered all the ships-in-bottles anyway) eleven times, and swore to remember the sacrifices of the Canadian Armed Forces. When he was done, he reminded me that he hadn't much time left on this earth, and I'd better take this job seriously when he was gone. He was of course talking about his generation and my generation, but what with about two feet of space between us and David staring me grimly in the face it all seemed a little more direct.

I think it was partly for this reason that I returned from the States just in time to make it for the ceremonies this year. I had come for the Obama rally and had a lovely week marveling at America's newfound promise to itself. I stayed, I think, for as long as I could, catching a Greyhound yesterday afternoon for the cramped overnight trek back to Toronto, arriving here sometime around 7am, falling on my bed and getting back up a little after 10 with one hour to go until Toronto bugle players would churn out The Last Post. I biked to Queen's Park in front of the Ontario Legislature, one of the many locations in the city to choose from.

When I was in Chicago, before Obama took the stage in Grant Park, a lady sang the Star Spangled Banner and everyone - surely even the most jaded, pessimistic faces in the crowd - put their hands over their hearts and swore allegiance to the flag. Partly this is because Obama is the New Hope, but partly it is because this is just something Americans, well, do.

My friends asked if Canada has a similar oath and I think my answer was, phonetically anyway, 'pphhththhh'. We have a flag, sure, but we didn't get the current one until 1965 and the most memorable thing about that event was watching Diefenbaker's jowls shaking in fury. No flag flying over the guns of independence for us, all that has happened since then was Expo 67 and then threats from everyone from Quebec to Alberta to Newfoundland to secede. We do have an anthem for the maple leaf, sort of, penned in the year of Confederation (1867), that is such a Britannia-rific Rah-Rah for the war of 1812 and Conquest there is absolutely zero reason to speculate why it is not sung now nor will it ever again. I also could not tell you the last time I heard O Canada sung in public since I do not attend many hockey games. In short, patriotism in this country is easy to find like living space is under a boulder.

I just read the excellent book 'Canadians' by Roy MacGregor, and he agrees. I am about to quote him liberally:

"The Canadian Identity, it seems, is truly elusive only at home. Beyond the borders Canadians know exactly who they are, within they see themselves as part of a family, a street, a neighbourhood, a community, a province , a region, and on special occasions like Canada Day and Grey Cup weekend and, of course, during the Winter Olympics, a country called Canada.

Beyond the borders, they pine; within the borders, they more often whine."

In return for stealing this insight from Mr. MacGregor, I suggest that anyone interested by matters Canadian pick up his book, it is truly the finest look into the national identity I have ever read. Anyway, in this one quote he did miss something that brings the nation together, and that is Remembrance Day. In the shadow of the Ontario Legislative building I could hardly see over the heads of the crowd gathered around the veterans and politicians and the microphone in the middle. The only people I could see and recognize were a trio of statues ornamenting the green on which the people were assembled. Unsurprisingly the top of the triangle was the man himself, Sir John A. MacDonald- man, if they ever rubbed the Queen's face out of national symbols, I fear we would be stuck with John A.'s big nose on more than just our money. So, under the watchful eye of the first Father of Conferderation, and under the Ontario flag which looks so much like that old Dominion banner, I could not see who was talking, but I could hear it. A veteran was speaking. It felt like an equation of history being drawn up.

"I am proud," he said, "to have served my country, and to have lived my life with my wife and my children in Canada, the greatest country on earth in which to live." After a few more sentiments for the occasion, and special greetings to his fellow veterans (and adorably, 'my air cadet squad'), he closed his remarks by repeating this, but this time, to applause. I applauded too. We have been told before, mostly by politicians, that Canada is the greatest country in which to live. We are noted for meeting almost anything politicians have to say with rolled eyes and hostility. We were also told this by the United Nations in their annual index, but more recently Iceland was topping the list and well, look what happened there. Who is there to believe? John A. would say, 'of course it is the best' but that guy would do anything to get the vote. I don't think I mind being told that this is the greatest place to live, but still I do scoff at the idea, and like a good Canadian can produce a list of personal whines and complaints. All the same I was glad to hear it from someone who knew what it meant to fight for it, and to hear people cheering for it somewhere other than the Winter Olympics.  It was a good, honest thing to be cheering for, nothing superficial or pompous about it.

Remembrance Day always makes me overthink the occasion and get a little misty eyed, and none of my grandparents or relatives even fought in no dang wars. I know it is Veterans Day in the States as well, but it still warmed my heart to cross the border and mark the poppy on every jacket. In fact I briefly lost mine and felt like I was letting everyone down.  Canada may not make the most vocal or obvious patriots within our own walls, but sometimes, in the quiet way that it is there, I think we do make some of the best ones.

David would be mad if I told you any different anyway.





Oh hey, on a side note:

Today also marks the opening of a certain film nationwide in this country. Can you believe- a Canadian war epic. I watched the trailer for Paul Gross' Passchendaele a long time ago and I hope you don't mind me saying it looks like we are about to get spoon-fed some sentimental music swelling in all the appropriately marked places in between some battle scenes. Of course I am going to watch it, it's a movie about Passchendaele for crying out loud - I just hope it is better than the preview.