Last night we saw Changeling.
The acting was very strong, and the fact that it was a true story has quite an impact. My thoughts run along the same lines as the ones inspired by Remembrance Day. How can any human inflict so much pain on another?
This morning, I was lazy in the extreme. Still, I did manage a walk with Black Jack, and a few pictures. Finally, I found one bird that would sit still long enough for me to get a picture.
This was taken from the top of Point Grey hill. 
Black Jack and I played a little ball there.
On the way back home, I took these trees in Trimble Park.
I watched these ducks for quite some time. They would fly in formation around the park two or three times, and then land for some grazing time. On some hidden signal, off they would go again. 
This was the best of my unsuccessful efforts to catch them in flight. As you can see, I only caught three of the five, and with poor focus. I'll keep trying. 
This was taken on my neighbor's front lawn, as I returned home. 
This afternoon, we went to hear the choral concert shown in the poster below. I enjoyed it and Bill did as well. Dee Daniels is an extraordinary singer. I heard her for the first time at the music teachers' conference in October, and I will never forget that performance. Next Saturday, we'll go to hear her sing with the VSO. The choirs had many beautiful moments as well. Too long, though. All concerts should have a two-hour time limit, in my not so humble opinion. This one was almost three hours.
My school will do its Remembrance Day Assembly tomorrow. As a music teacher, preparation begins for the choir and band several weeks before, so I have had quite a bit of time to think about those who died fighting, and those who live on with physical and emotional scars. War makes me feel powerless and angry and sad. I didn’t understand it when I was a kid, and I don’t understand it now. I will write more on this, after the ceremony. I'd love to know your thoughts (dear readers of this blog) on the usefulness and significance of this day set aside for remembrance.
I have always been bothered by the glorification of war, and my pacifism leads me to ask "What if...What if they held a war and nobody came?" In my Utopia, everyone would refuse to fight and nations would be forced to resolve their differences through honest communication and negotiation. In my Utopia we would raise our children to celebrate diversity, to resolve problems without violence, to be compassionate and humane to all living things, so there would be no more warmongers or Hitlers among us.
ReplyDeleteI believe it is important to remember those who died - not because they "died for my freedom" but because they killed and were killed in horrible, frightening, terrifying circumstances. Civilians and soldiers, many hardly more than children, have died needlessly because powerful men in powerful nations were unable to sort out their differences. We have to remember the ugliness of war so that we will never engage in it again and so we will be inspired to find a better way.