On November 11, remembering for a just peace...

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MONTREAL, Canada, Fall 1967: I remember the feel of the cool fall air on my bare knees, as I walked to school in my pinafore-dress-white-blouse uniform. The nip of the wind against my skin got me moving fast towards the warmth of the building and my classroom that held a desk of my very own.

BANBURY, England, Fall 1973: I remember the creamy custard poured by the school-lunch ladies, out of white enamel jugs — large, the ladies (from my perspective, as a short 13-year-old) and the jugs (never holding enough). The custard, sweet, warm, the flavour of comfort to make the pudding (think Bake-Off sponge) taste delicious.

And I remember the fact of learning, the fun of my friends, and the frantic pace of the field hockey games that left my fingers so cold I could barely unbutton my skirt-and-Airtex-blouse Phys Ed uniform. I want to remember that I loved those games. I shall remember that I did.

What I cannot remember is any fear, any frights, any famine. My childhood and young adulthood was love and peace, safety and security. And my life still is.

WINNIPEG, Canada, November 11, 2025: Wars of many kinds rage, still, around the world. So, on this Remembrance Day, I remember my good fortune, and I send love and gratitude to every person who has served their country to fight for the freedoms I have always been privileged to know… and I send love and peace around the whole of this poor benighted world of ours. 

May we honour the sacrifices. 

May we respect the gains they have brought. 

May we, every day, do every single thing we can — big or small —
to keep those gains alive and true for every single one of us,
no matter where we live, whom we love, or what we look like.

***

“Peace is not an absence of war, 
it is a virtue, a state of mind, 
a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.” 

Baruch Spinoza,
Theologico-Political Treatise
1670

***

“Peace is not merely an absence of war. 
It is the presence of justice, of law, and of good governance. 
It is the mother of all human rights.”

Volker Türk,
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
March 26, 2025


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Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Poppies/field photo by Laura M Goodsell on Unsplash

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