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lest we forget
Nov. 12th, 2006 12:40 am"Adrian, there was a soldier at my school last week."
Adrian, very cautiously, "Do you mean a soldier helping the teacher by talking about being a soldier? Or the mommy or daddy of one of the kids, who just happens to be a soldier?"
child: "Don't be silly, Adrian! Mommys and Daddys can't be soldiers." (Six year olds know everything. Sometimes.) "He was a real soldier, helping the teacher. We could tell he was a real soldier, even though he didn't have his soldier-things..." She waved her hands and looked uncertain, forgetting the word.
Adrian: "Do you mean his uniform? The special clothes soldiers wear are called uniforms, that's so everyone can recognize them.
child: "No, not that. He was wearing the clothes. But he didn't have his soldier things." She patted herself vaguely. She was wearing little-girl clothes, with no belt or pockets. That made it harder to recognize what she meant.
Adrian: "Oh. You mean he didn't have weapons! Was that it?" (Knowing adult glances across the table. Faint sighs of relief.)
*very small nod* "Mommy, I mean Adrian, can I sit on your lap?"
"Of course, sweetie."
parent: "Why do they have soldiers going to the elementary school?"
Adrian: "I have no idea. Is this a new thing?"
parent: "It's the first she's told me about it. I wonder if it's a careers thing, like with the firefighters?"
Adrian: "Oh, it's November already. It might be a Veterans Day thing."
child: "What does that have to do with soldiers?"
Adrian: "A Veteran is somebody who used to be a soldier. Veterans' day is a holiday to remember and say thank you to people who were soldiers once, and either died or left the army to do other things."
parent: "Why now? What's the connection to November?"
Adrian stared. "It was the Great War. The War To End War. It ended on November 11, at 11:11 in the morning. It was The Armistice. The veterans of that war were supposed to be the last ones. They used to call the holiday Armistice Day. Didn't you know?"
parent: "I knew they used to talk about world war I being the war to end war, more fools they. But I didn't know it was connected to Veterans day. How did everyone know to stop fighting at 11:11? What time zone?" (And then the conversation wandered back to matters of more importance to 6-year-olds. Even one who says she isn't a bit scared.)
I've been on LJ long enough, and generally surrounded by the Making Light fluorosphere, that it feels a bit shocking to find my friend oblivious to the connections between November 11, World War I, grief, anger, and pacifism. I've only been paying attention to these things for a few years myself. It shouldn't be all that shocking. I read a few stories and poems when I was a teenager. But I didn't connect "In Flanders Field" or "Dulce Et Decorum Est" with this date, or any date. When I was growing up, if there was any public display of formalized grief on November 11, it was connected with the "Edmund Fitzgerald," not with "half the seed of Europe, one by one." But now it feels like I am surrounded by people who pay attention to this date, and grieve for the soldiers who died before our parents were born, and quote songs and poems to say "we remember," and "never again." It doesn't take very many years of that immersion to feel like I have always been surrounded by people like that, even though I know it wasn't so. *sigh* We remember. Never again.
Adrian, very cautiously, "Do you mean a soldier helping the teacher by talking about being a soldier? Or the mommy or daddy of one of the kids, who just happens to be a soldier?"
child: "Don't be silly, Adrian! Mommys and Daddys can't be soldiers." (Six year olds know everything. Sometimes.) "He was a real soldier, helping the teacher. We could tell he was a real soldier, even though he didn't have his soldier-things..." She waved her hands and looked uncertain, forgetting the word.
Adrian: "Do you mean his uniform? The special clothes soldiers wear are called uniforms, that's so everyone can recognize them.
child: "No, not that. He was wearing the clothes. But he didn't have his soldier things." She patted herself vaguely. She was wearing little-girl clothes, with no belt or pockets. That made it harder to recognize what she meant.
Adrian: "Oh. You mean he didn't have weapons! Was that it?" (Knowing adult glances across the table. Faint sighs of relief.)
*very small nod* "Mommy, I mean Adrian, can I sit on your lap?"
"Of course, sweetie."
parent: "Why do they have soldiers going to the elementary school?"
Adrian: "I have no idea. Is this a new thing?"
parent: "It's the first she's told me about it. I wonder if it's a careers thing, like with the firefighters?"
Adrian: "Oh, it's November already. It might be a Veterans Day thing."
child: "What does that have to do with soldiers?"
Adrian: "A Veteran is somebody who used to be a soldier. Veterans' day is a holiday to remember and say thank you to people who were soldiers once, and either died or left the army to do other things."
parent: "Why now? What's the connection to November?"
Adrian stared. "It was the Great War. The War To End War. It ended on November 11, at 11:11 in the morning. It was The Armistice. The veterans of that war were supposed to be the last ones. They used to call the holiday Armistice Day. Didn't you know?"
parent: "I knew they used to talk about world war I being the war to end war, more fools they. But I didn't know it was connected to Veterans day. How did everyone know to stop fighting at 11:11? What time zone?" (And then the conversation wandered back to matters of more importance to 6-year-olds. Even one who says she isn't a bit scared.)
I've been on LJ long enough, and generally surrounded by the Making Light fluorosphere, that it feels a bit shocking to find my friend oblivious to the connections between November 11, World War I, grief, anger, and pacifism. I've only been paying attention to these things for a few years myself. It shouldn't be all that shocking. I read a few stories and poems when I was a teenager. But I didn't connect "In Flanders Field" or "Dulce Et Decorum Est" with this date, or any date. When I was growing up, if there was any public display of formalized grief on November 11, it was connected with the "Edmund Fitzgerald," not with "half the seed of Europe, one by one." But now it feels like I am surrounded by people who pay attention to this date, and grieve for the soldiers who died before our parents were born, and quote songs and poems to say "we remember," and "never again." It doesn't take very many years of that immersion to feel like I have always been surrounded by people like that, even though I know it wasn't so. *sigh* We remember. Never again.
