Loudwater: "Remembering today, and everyday."

Friday, 11 November 2011

"Remembering today, and everyday."

Every year, the Remembrance Day services all look the same; but I want to be there, because they are also different, in small ways. No matter where I stand in the crowd, close or far from the cenotaph, I felt I was there -- like in a war. I saw people holding portraits of young men/women in front of their chests, I saw big man in Army uniforms weep, I saw veterans in wheelchairs in the cold rain -- just to be there. Today, the three men in front of me gave each other a pad on the back after the moment of silence, while fighting back emotions on their faces, in tears, and at the bottom of their hearts... Here is the poem from the Vancouver service today 11-11-2011:

THE WAY

by Hannah Naomi Williams

How dark the way is to me

I stumble, fall, grope and mutter

The sky above laughs at me

Birds peck, chirp, screech and whistle

Distant sounds to my ears

How dark my memories are to me

Of home, fire, warmth and faces

All whispering to me

Come back, come home return

But I cannot reach them where they are

How dark the land is to me

The earth is dark and cold beneath me

Frosty, unknown, foreign soil

My own country of trees and lakes

Far buried in my mind

How dark this pain is to me

It aches and overtakes my consciousness

Blood and thunder are well known

The Stench of rotting, life in death

When it’s quiet my ears still ring

How dark the fighting is to me

Courage has evaded me

I have no anger left for my enemies

I aim my gun in hope of life

But death is all that finds me

How dark the way is to me

I press on, my heart straining

I still live a miracle

Every breath is precious

So I wait and dream and pray for life

And this is the Vinyl Cafe Remembrance Day edition this year.

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Quotes

"Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul." - Edward Abbey
"Not all those who wander are lost." - J. R. R. Tolkien
“The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.” -Kurt Vonnegut
"The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting." - Charles Bukowski
"How do youths better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?!" -- Walden, Henry D. Thoreau
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." -- Walden, Henry D. Thoreau
"When I was 5 years old, my mom always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy.' They told me I didn’t understand the assignment and I told them they didn’t understand life."
"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall live them." -- Jack London
“Conserving the natural world is not a process which can be imposed from outside by an external authority at the last minute, as it currently operates in the quota system. In other words, conservation is not an on/off switch for destructive behaviour. Rather, conservation issues have to be in the perspectives of participants who have collectively recognized they are part of both human and nature communities, at all times.” -- Raymond A. Rogers, Nature and the Crisis of Modernity
"I don't necessarily fear being afraid." - Andrew McAuley
‎"There is 110% in every man, 10% more than he thinks that there is." -- George Steinbrenner
To experience that intense feeling of being alive, you need to touch that potential to die." - Dr. Richard Stiles
"Greatness is more often packaged in humility than in arrogance. It is more often driven by gratitude than by pride or ego. It is always accompanied by an aura that repels doubters, embraces believers and converts all but the most dogged dissenters."
"It’s unfortunate that we live in a society that takes tragedy to bring us together." -- NIU basketball coach Ricardo Patton said when his team returned to the court after the shooting tragedy on campus.
"I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don't want one." -- Christopher McCandless
"They must find it difficult... those who have taken authority as the truth, rather than truth as the authority." -- Gerald Massey
"We just want to take this moment to salute you, the greatest fans in the world." -- Derek Jeter to the fans after the final game at Yankee Stadium
"Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end the Germans win." - Gary Lineker
“We should stop treating poverty as criminals.” -- Bernie, from Vancouver Downtown Eastside
“You don’t see criminal in those rich communities because they have enough money to cover it.” - Doug, from Vancouver Downtown Eastside
"When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bike. Then I realized that the Lord doesn’t work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me."
"When I read about the evil of drinking, I gave up reading."
"A good lecture should be like a woman’s skirt: short enough to arouse interest but long enough to cover the essentials."
"Behind every successful man is a woman; behind that woman is his wife."
“When you are responsible for players or if you have children growing up, maybe some of them will make A’s, others will make C’s, but they work their ass off, either way. And you hug them. That’s basically the way I feel about those guys.” -- Joe Torre, in his last post game interview on Pinstripes
"The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn't say is what it is I have found. And over the last 21 years, I have found loyalty. You have pulled for me on the court and also in life. I've found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed sometimes even in my lowest moments. And I've found generosity. You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I could have never reached without you. Over the last 21 years, I have found you. And I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life. Thank you." - Andre Agassi’s on-court farewell speech
Q. Do you have any questions for us? ANDRE AGASSI: Are you guys going to really miss me or are you just acting like that? (Standing ovation.)
Q. You leave Melbourne with some great memories again? MARCOS BAGHDATIS: Of course. I love Melbourne. I love the tournament. I'm very happy to be here. Like I said before, that's why I live, for matches like this. That's why I work hard. That's why I dream: For matches like this. And it's a pleasure to ‑‑ even losing it. That's not the most important thing, you know. It's just a game, and I'm just very, very happy that I'm playing this way and having so many good emotions.
"The Holy Grail 'neath ancient Roslin waits. The blade and chalice guarding o'er Her gates. Adorned in masters' loving art, She lies. She rests at last beneath the starry skies." -- The Da Vinci Code
"A guy and a girl can be just friends, but at one point or another, they will fall for each other... Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever." - Dave Matthews Band