remembrance day songs, part II

after posting about remembrance day songs yesterday i went to my daughter’s remembrance day assembly. it was quite moving. and i thought, this is what will be a childhood memory for my daughter one day!

here are the songs they sang:

  • one more step
  • where have all the flowers gone
  • what a wonderful world
  • lay down your arms
  • may there always be sunshine
  • expect respect
  • the brave canadian soldier

the ones that moved me – one more step, lay down your arms, and the brave canadian soldier – were probably songs that were composed specifically for school music. too bad i can’t find the lyrics on the internet.

i liked one more step because it reminded me of the “one day at a time” motto. it’s hard to imagine we can make a big difference in the world – but what we can do is get up the courage to just do one little step. and then another one. and another one.

when i first saw the title of the brave canadian soldier i thought it would the typical kind of song that celebrates war. however, what i heard was a sweet melancholy of ambivalence. all the choruses ended with: “some say it’s right, some say it’s wrong.”

that’s what i’m taking away from this year’s remembrance day. this tension. “some say it’s right, some say it’s wrong.” even though i’m a pacifist, i think i understand people who aren’t. the principal at my daughter’s school put it very well. he said that his uncle, a bomber who was fighting what he obviously felt was a good and just war, was “dropping bombs on other people’s brothers and sisters.”

is this a tension that we will ever be able to resolve?

i hope so.

isabella mori
counselling in vancouver

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