remembering

Last week I read the moving story of how - more than half a century ago - a couple from Alexandria, Ontario watched seven of their boys put on military uniforms and leave, one by one, for war.

(photo, above, by Ottawa artist Raceytay) 

One of them, Aime, was the eldest of the 13 siblings.  He was a sniper with the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders and he waded onto the beach at Bernières-Sur-Mer in Normandy on D-Day.

One of the 7 brothers who marched to war was killed in action.

As a mother myself, I can't imagine how it must feel to know your child is serving in a war. That the child you bore and love more than anything might not come home. So today, on Remembrance Day here in Canada,  I remember and offer quiet thanks to all of these soldiers, and their brave families too.  I remember the many men in my own family, my grandfather included, who fought in the Second World War.  Moving to another side of my family tree, I remember relatives (whole branches of the family tree) who perished in the Holocaust, when help came far too late.

(photo, above, via Flickr)

And I remember the child soldiers still being recruited in the world today.  The unthinkably violent wars being fought in some many countries. The orphaned children who will never again see their parents.

Long before mothering, I spent many years studying & analysing international politics, and conflict on a global scale. No matter how many books I read or cases I studied, I couldn't escape the sense that there is a deep, and very very dark part of human nature. I'd like to think that cooperation and integration can combat that... but I'm not sure. I wonder now if we need to acknowledge and deal with that part that lies in each of us... and then be so wary as it can manifest into monstrous, large-scale situations.

There's a lot to think about today.