Inside King's-Edgehill School
Dear KES Family:
On the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month we will formally honour those who have served, at home and overseas, at the Remembrance Day ceremonies in town. Following this ceremony next Thursday, we will return to campus and re-assemble around our own cenotaph. There, we will hold our own service to honour those students who have gone on to war and peacekeeping missions around the world.
We live in a time of contradictions, and so it is with some disappointment that we are not allowed to observe either ceremony as a cadet corps. However, it is with gratitude that we will attend and participate as a school. Instead of highland dress, we will wear our School uniforms, special masks printed with poppies, and appropriately warm outer clothing. Parents, and those for whom the School ceremony is especially meaningful, are welcome to join us.
I realize these are turbulent times, that next week we will raise our lowered flags so we may, once again, lower them. I realize that the withdrawal from Afghanistan has many veterans questioning the meaning of their service and sacrifice. I realize that many in the Armed Forces are wrestling with orders preventing them from assembling in uniform, or at all, on this day. I also realize if I focus my thoughts on the turbulence that I will become turbulent myself.
Peace, for me, will come from focusing my thoughts on those who have served and sacrificed. Those men and women on the Honour Rolls deserve as much. The students understand the solemnity of the moment, of the ceremony, of the day. They understand the importance of the poppy. They understand why we must not forget those who serve and have served. What they wear is immaterial when compared to their intentions, and their reflections. Regardless of nationality, every student understands the meaning of sacrifice and how important it is, if only for a moment, to say thank you.
Sincerely,
Joe Seagram