Lest we Forget

©iStockphoto.com/James Warren



Flander's Field

by John McCrae, May 1915 

 

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

 

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

 

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

 

 

Lest we Forget

Every year at the beginning of November we start to see artificial poppies for sale. We buy a poppy because that's what we've been programmed to do, but when was the last time that you stopped to think about the significance of  Remembrance Day? November 11th marks the anniversary of the end of World War 1 (1918). Many soldier and civilian lives were lost during this massive conflict and many surviving soldiers were scarred. So this Remembrance day lets take a moment, or two, or three to remember and express our gratitude for the brave soldiers and veterans that fought for us. Support our survivors by purchasing a poppy.

 

Symbolism of the Poppy

Poppies grow very well in disturbed soil and they thrived in the battlefields. The red petals reminded people of the blood shed by our soldiers and innocent civilians. 

 

 

Forgiveness & Self Acceptance

Today I would like to share another quote by the wise Maya Angelou. Her teachings are simple yet very powerful. I was first introduced to Maya on Oprah's Super Soul Sunday. On the show Oprah interviews highly influential people and they share lessons that they've learned over their lifetime. Sometimes I'm in disbelief by the about of wisdom that is shared on these shows. Can you imagine how much time, energy, and hurt you would save yourself by listening to even a little bit of the guidance given by these individuals? To me this means less time fumbling and more time focussing on your purpose.

“I don't know if I continue, even today, always liking myself. But what I learned to do many years ago was to forgive myself. It is very important for every human being to forgive herself or himself because if you live, you will make mistakes- it is inevitable. But once you do and you see the mistake, then you forgive yourself and say, 'Well, if I'd known better I'd have done better,' that's all. So you say to people who you think you may have injured, 'I'm sorry,' and then you say to yourself, 'I'm sorry.' If we all hold on to the mistake, we can't see our own glory in the mirror because we have the mistake between our faces and the mirror; we can't see what we're capable of being. You can ask forgiveness of others, but in the end the real forgiveness is in one's own self. I think that young men and women are so caught by the way they see themselves. Now mind you. When a larger society sees them as unattractive, as threats, as too black or too white or too poor or too fat or too thin or too sexual or too asexual, that's rough. But you can overcome that. The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself. If we don't have that we never grow, we never learn, and sure as hell we should never teach.”

-Maya Angelou