Poppy Vase - a Remembrance Day moment

Last Monday’s interesting exchange around Remembrance Day reminded me of this earlier moment, when I entered and embraced the Poppy field, and connected with Dr. McCrae.

I was at Winners in 2012 this time, to return an orange glass Vase.

It was tall, almost 6 feet, slim, and made in Spain.

I handed the Vase to Teresa, the cashier, and then the MasterCard.

Right then the speakers announced,

2 minutes of silence to honour the brave who had fought in the wars.

It was 11 am on the 11th of November.

Teresa and I paused, stood still.

The card, stuck in the silence between us, and the Vase standing tall, like a soldier.

All the cash machines stopped. Silence in a very busy Mall.

Our hearts clung to the spirit of the poem that was played in the store.

Dr. John McCrae, scribbling in the back of a war ambulance,

tearfully thinking of his dear friend who died in the war.

“In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow. … We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we live In Flanders fields. To you, from failing hands, we throw the torch be yours to hold it high….”

 I do not have the privilege of having ancestors who fought in wars, but the Vase Moment, almost made me cry, mingling inner tears with Dr. McCrae, in the speeding ambulance, in Flanders Fields. It is a moment I cherish as someone who chose Canada as home.

My response was to reflect on how building the world’s best innovation economy here, with advanced technologies, brings economic prosperity by creating competitive advantage for Canada’s talent and resources within the intensely competitive global economy. This effort also involves attracting, engaging, and embracing top talent from everywhere, and can be imagined as co-creating the world’s best honeycomb by engaging the smartest honeybees.

This vision and activity are fundamentally connected to supporting economic freedom, and the related choices that become available to fulfill our potential as individuals and as a Nation. To me, this offered a subtle, meaningful response to the deeper call and throw of this poem.

Joseph Kurian