Laurier failed to remember on Nov. 11

For 2 years I have attended this school with pride. But today, Remembrance Day, I hung my head in absolute shame and embarrassment. It physically hurts my heart that classes at Laurier did not, as a whole, stop and acknowledge the minute of silence at 11:11. There was, in its stead, a ceremony in the Concourse, and attendance was optional.

Tonight, I sit in my home writing this letter, free from tyranny and oppression because of the highest price paid by brave men and women from all over the world. I watch the Remembrance Tribute on CBC and I see wives weep, fathers break down, a mother cry saying “My son promised me he’d come home” and a small boy ask “Why would someone hurt my daddy?”
I am deeply ashamed this school did not stop classes for one small minute, to honor the dead: our protectors, our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends. I am ashamed we did not honour the victims of war. These are people we know, and they paid with their lives, their families now live in grief and we, at Laurier, could not sacrifice one small minute.

A little perspective needs to be taken. I am not perfect, and I am not holier than thou, I take things for granted too, we all do, but a minute should not be too much to ask. 
—Sabrina Brown