11-11-11: Let's Remember to Remember

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Canadians are asked to pause in memory of the thousands of men and women who sacrificed their lives in military service. At public gatherings in Ottawa and around the country, Canadians pay tribute with two minutes of silence to the country's fallen soldiers from the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, the Afghanistan conflict and peacekeeping missions. Also known as Veterans Day in the U.S., Remembrance Day was first held throughout the Commonwealth in 1919. It marks the armistice to end the First World War, which came into effect at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, a year earlier.

It isn't a national holiday across Canada, but employees in federally regulated employees do get the day off. Several provinces and territories — including Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and Yukon — do observe a statutory holiday.

But why isn't it a statutory holiday in Ontario?

Each year, on the 11th month of the 11th day at precisely 11 o’clock, the country stops for two minutes of silence to pay respect and to give thanks to the troops and war veterans who sacrificed their lives to fight in the war. But what if Canada had the day off? Would they care to pay the respects without someone giving them information? Would they even know if 11 o’clock struck the clock? Would it be enforced into all the homes of families so that when the time came, each household was in silence? I for one don’t believe it would be necessary to give Remembrance Day a statutory holiday because then I won’t be as focused as I am if I was sharing it with many others; my attention wouldn’t be ‘all there’ and I would most likely forget my cue if I am busy with unrelated work/activities.

Currently, November 11th is not a holiday in Ontario, but for some provinces, it already is. People would agree and think it would be considerate to give the war heroes a holiday to commemorate their hardship, but the province doesn’t need a day off to do so. Without it being a statutory holiday, each person should be already getting the necessary time to pay their respects and to say thanks along with whomever they know is also participating in this service, (ex. schools and workplaces) – we all do it at one time during the day together. If we all had the day off, I don’t think we would care as much then if we were standing with a large amount of people. It’s not the same because with the freedom the open day brings, we’d much rather spend it enjoying ourselves much to the advantage as possible and quite possible wouldn’t even care about the two minutes of silence. Why? Because we (the general public) don’t have the same influence as we would have then if we were with a larger group participating at exactly the same time everyone else was. The more people a person sees participating, the more they want to participate as well. (We don’t have that if we’re sitting at home, meaning we’re most likely going to forget).

But, if we are entitled to attend a ceremony, then I would say otherwise, however, if we got the day to ourselves, we wouldn’t spend it on remembering the fallen soldiers, because it’s not as important as keeping up with our daily lives. We go into war as a country, we come out as a country and we should remember as a country. If the province were to go ahead and make it a statutory holiday, no one would remember to remember, but a lot of people will remember to forget.

Come 11 seconds, 11 minutes and 11 hours into tomorrow and clocks (digital, of course) will tick their way through a palindrome - 11:11 on 11/11/11.

For the majority of people in Canada, our thoughts will be of Remembrance Day as we observe a minute’s silence on this most individual of November 11ths.

But here are 11 more facts you need to know about 11/11/11:

1. November 11 is the 315th day of the year.
2. There are 50 days remaining until the end of the year.
3. As well as Remembrance Day, the date 11/11/11 is also known as Independence Day in Poland, commemorating the anniversary of the country's assumption of independent statehood in 1918.
4. In China, November 11th is Singles Day - literally translating as "bare sticks holiday", a Hallmark holiday for people living the single life.
5. In Japan however, November 11th is even more gimmicked, known as Pocky Day and Pretz Day. 'Pocky' is a biscuit stick coated with chocolate named after the sound made when it is bitten, while 'Pretz' is also stick-shaped and similar to a pretzel.
6. Notable births on November 11th include: novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821), actor Robert Ryan (1909), actor Stanley Tucci (1960), actress Demi Moore (1962), actress Calista Flockhart (1964), Leonardo DiCaprio (1974) and reality TV star Chanelle Hayes (1987).
7. Conversely, those having a very bad day indeed include Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1855), Australian outlaw Ned Kelly (1880) and Palestinian leader and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize Yasser Arafat (2004), who all died on November 11th.
8. The General Synod of the Church of England voted to allow women to become priests on November 11th in 1992.
9. On November 11th in 1999, Parliamentary history was made as the House of Lords Act was given Royal Assent, restricting membership of the British House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage.
10. A rough day for those that suffer from aibohphobia, though. As the jokey term for the irrational fear of palindromes, the word itself is of course a palindrome.
11. Fanciful Spinal Tap fans have launched a campaign for the day to be recognized as Nigel Tufnel Day, in tribute to comedy film’s lead guitarist who cluelessly – and hilariously – boasted about his amp’s capacity to ‘go up to eleven’.

At 11am on 11-11-11, let's remember together the lives that were lost and the sacrifices made by the men and women who served overseas who fought for our country. It is important to honour these veterans because they represented a nation of freedom and full dedication.

Thanks for listening and have a memorable Remembrance Day

Happy 11-11-11.

-Drew