My 6 Year Old’s Explains the Remembrance Day Poppy.

Last night as I was driving Kaiya back from Piano lessons, Revolution by the Beetles was playing on Sirius XM. I am always trying to inoculate this little human with the greatest music, you know…so she can I can listen to great music together as we road-trip together! Anything to fight against the Frozen soundtrack right? (For the record ‘Fire on the Mountain’ by the Grateful Dead is her all-time favourite.)

John Lennon’s Lyrics for Revolution express my worldview perfectly.

“You say you want a revolution
Well, you know We all want to change the world
You tell me that it’s evolution
Well, you know We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don’t you know that you can count me out.

You ask me for a contribution Well, you know
We’re all doing what we can
But if you want money
For people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait.”

I started to explain to Kaiya what the lyrics meant. She was wise enough to make the connection between Lennon’s lyrics and the Remembrance Day poppy I was wearing. I asked her what the poppy meant as I passed it back to her in the car. After she told me her insights, I stopped the car as the sun was setting over South Bay in Saint John, New Brunswick. I filmed her response in the video below.

As a pacifist my heart breaks every time I get the updates on the news of how many people are killed as a result of wars fuelled by greed and misunderstanding. I am anti-war. Is it possible that evolution will breed war out of us as a civilization? Will there be a time when humans will not have to fear other humans as their greatest predators? I hope so.

Today is Remembrance Day, and I do take this day very seriously and will not forget the sacrifices that so many women and men have made to allow me to live and grow a family in a peaceful country. Because I am anti-war, does not mean I do not honour our troops of yesterday and today who are all trying to bring peace to our world. Let’s hope that the Evolution that Lennon writes about happens soon so we can resolve our conflicts without destroying each other.

Peace.