Friday while some children attend mass, the rest of us have "character education" hour where we discuss the Primary Years Program Student attitude of the month (thankfullness) or the value of the month (appreciation) or something topical. This day they all came into the discussion, thanks to a colleague's idea to read a picture story to the kids around the concepts of war,
remembrance and sacrifice. This story, called "War Game" was about a group of British teens who obsessed about football (soccer) and how they were caught up in the glory of signing up for war in 1915 only to find that the glory was fictional--mud, gore, exhaustion, hunger and cold were the realities. The story goes (and fly-leaf states it is based on truth) that the rains abated only to have a frigid cold snap come upon them mid December, in fact just on Christmas eve. The "enemy" was not very far away and the Brits could hear their conversations when the shells slacked off and on that evening, could hear the words to their carols as well. There was an unofficial cease-fire and the return volley wasn't another round of ammunition, but choruses of christmas tunes that each knew in their own language. As the story goes, the young soldiers of both sides got out of their trenches and greeted each other with words of peace and good will. Enough English was spoken that they were able to share some good conversations and shared experiences. By morning, the hoar frost had whitened everything and the soldiers saw it as a fresh start, inspite of the bodies of their mates that hadn't been retrieved out of no-mans-land yet. Another greeting over the trenches was made, and sharing of christmas treats--tobacco, chewing gum, chocolate, and writing paper. From somewhere, a football came out and instantly, a game without rules and without score keeping began. Hats and helmets acted like goalposts, Brits in Khaki, and the Germans in Grey, and each played until the jackets were discarded and the nationalities blended. The young men on each side found it in their hearts to shake hands and again enjoy each others' company until the end of the day. By next day, the commanding officers had heard these stories on both sides and were none too pleased. An organizing general was coming in and wanted to see real battle at 15:30 the next day. Someone from the German side leaked over information to the Brits and told them to keep their heads down starting at 3:00 p.m. that day, so that no one would get hurt. Meanwhile, the german front guard was replaced by other soldiers, unfamiliar with their mate's new friends. The bombings ensued and the war progressed, but the Brits never forgot their momentary cease-fire, their shared caroling and their christmas day football match where no one won. Or lost. That day.And in order that we didn't lose the moral of the story or the purpose of the hour, I had a copy of "In Flanders Fields" with me, written by Dr. McCrae, a Canadian. I started reading it, and to my surprise, many of the kids joined in with me. They had learned it by heart last year in grade 4 and knew the story well of how it was written. I choked up a bit at this, as there aren't a lot of references to Canada's war efforts in my school (being run by Americans) but this was one of them, and a sound one at that. I told the kids of people I know who are in service right now (Don, you came to my heart) and those who did their part for their country. We each in turn shared memories of those we knew who were either in that war, or other conflicts.
One Korean girl told me of her dad who was lucky that he was too young by a few years to see active duty while in mandatory service. Another German child said his grandad was a commander in the army (when would that have been? 60's? He wasn't sure). The recollections were international and encompassed the last 75 years...incredible how broad these children's experiences span and each can share them peacefully with each other. I think that's the thing I'm most thankful for...that and my fun loving family, as seen here:
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