The posts about Remembrance Day were great! I especially enjoy the thing about "Flander's Fields". I just would like to remind everyone that Remembrance Day is not JUST about WW1 and WW2, it is about every soldier that has participated in wars since WW1. It is important that we talk with our students about those wars, but also that we recognize that there is CURRENTLY a war going on, in which our country is involved. You will have students whose friends, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, etc., are currently DEPLOYED as part of this war, or who have possibly been injured or killed as part of it, and we cannot forget to recognize that as well. (ps. they can be a good resource for what it is really like to deal with military deployment and life if you want to go there)
It is definitely important to engage students and get them thinking critically about all of the military endeavours our country has been involved in. Lest we forget all of the other soldiers and their families who have made sacrifices for this country.
I attended the Remembrance Day service with a group of young men who have in the last year all been deployed as part of the war on terror, either at sea or in Afghanistan, and I can tell you that it meant a lot to them to see all the people who were there and that their own sacrifices did not go unrecognized.
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Let's also remember all the people our soldiers killed to keep this country safe. To expand our economic frontiers and to spread our political system to the distant parts of the world. Let us remember that we, and our former enemies (not only the survivors) are better off after the end of hostilities. Let us remember those lucky foreign people who had to die for their country to become free. Let us remember great men like John Walker Lindh, currently wasting away in a prison after being captured in Afghanistan fighting against those who hate our freedoms. Let us remember history and also remember it through someone elses eyes.
Great point Jeremy! We do need to remember (and talk about) EVERYONE affected by war, not just our country.
That brings us back to thinking critically about the wars, and talking about the wars from all angles.
Thanks for bringing that up.
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