Remembering

Today is a day of remembering.  Remembering those who gave their lives to help to bring freedom and peace to us.  Remembering their sacrifice.  Sacrifice not only in death, but in the living too.  Those who lived with deep fear and anxiety for decades.  Those who could not freely pursue their dreams for life.  Families divided.  Years of hunger and pain.  Sacrifice of many of those who followed.  Anxiety and emotional pain passed down through generations.  I am thankful for those who have carried so much to help bring freedom.

I remember  that the sacrifice in most of the world continues.  Freedom and love are still elusive. I am thankful for those labouring to help bring freedom and peace all over the world on this day.

My own children remember in their own lives.  Remember pain and hurt.  Denial of love, freedom and health.  Oppression and bondage.   Anxiety and heavy loads of unmanageable emotion.  Post traumatic stress suffered together with those we are specifically remembering today.

Memory is  elusive and complicated. It is stored not only in several places in our brains, but also in our emotional responses and our bodies.  More often than not, memory is not clear.  Often in protection, our minds and bodies turn off the actual memories, but the pain, cold and dark linger, to pounce when we least expect them.

There is hope.  The pain and negative emotion linked with memory can be healed.  The process of healing is complicated and often needs those particularly skilled in the healing.  Some adoptive parents I know have been frustrated in the time and pain of memories emerging.  Sometimes the actual memories never come back.  Conscious remembering is not needed for full healing.  It is not a process that can be hurried in any of us.  Seek out the healers among us to help guide.  Turn to rituals and expressions of spirit, emotion and body that heal.

Remembrance Day is a ritual of that healing.  Remember your own part in the sacrifice that is present in all of our lives. Our actual memories may not be clear or even historically accurate.  That does not matter.  Light a candle.  Sit in that quiet minute.  Give thanks for sacrifices made to bring love, peace and healing.  Reflect and remember with honour, respect and love.