Much More Than Cloth
In the chaos of volley fire during the War of 1812 and as far back as military formation in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, soldiers needed to be able to determine where their unit was. Acting as a rallying point on past battlefields, our regimental Colours are obviously more ceremonial than tactical today. However, do they serve a value outside of being a residue of the past?
We cannot minimize the fundamental purposes of our Colours: connection. It involves vertical relationships in the chain of command, horizontal relationships with our brothers and sisters, why we serve, and the history we become part of as members of the regiment. The sense of connection our Colours represent are what makes them much more than just cloth. They represent somewhere we belong.
–The sense of connection our Colours represent are what makes them much more than just cloth.
The Architecture of Spirit
–We too must never think of yielding our ethos, especially when we feel lost amid chaotic circumstances without a sense of connection.
We do not need SOPs to recognize our Colours are never to be laid on the ground. Not merely as a sign of disrespect but to remind us never to soil the attitudes, beliefs, and values represented in them. That we must always stand under, and never trample over them. Soldier on battlefields generations long past would also never have imagined yielding these Colours to an enemy. Similarly, we too must never think of yielding our ethos, especially when we feel lost amid chaotic, morally complex circumstances, and perhaps without a sense of connection.
Connection Between Every Level
–The solemn recognition that great things have been suffering and done for things worth more than life itself. This is the penetrating spirit of service. This is the reasons why we would place service before self.
You can probably recall when we have seen our Colours carried in funeral processions. They are draped and not saluted as they normally would have been. Instead, the honour is reserved for the deceased. Similar to our Colours, the bugle also acts as a signal to rally us together in this world, and call those from the next. A powerful physical and spiritual connection that transcends life and death. A reminder that we are not alone.
Although bodies disappear into the soil, their spirts and memories must be celebrated through thoughts that pass from our soul. The solemn recognition that great things have been suffering and done for things worth more than life itself. This is the penetrating spirit of service. This is the reasons why we would place service before self. Something we were prepared to give ourselves to that cannot die and is beyond time. Something so absolute that we were willing to give absolutely.
Flags are Not Silent
It has been told to me that there is a way of losing that results in finding also. When we give love so supremely in loyalty, we find something greater than self-interest and the material things that distract us from the path we wish to follow in life. This love is the reward of service and sacrifice.
–Like our Colours, we too act as symbols that represents everything embedded in our shared ethos.
When the bugle sounds at 11:00 on Remembrance Day, we should return to our Colours as generations had before. Return to the safety of connection among those who also share these attitudes, beliefs, and values of service. An ethos embedded not only in cloth or our traditions, but to something even beyond words written or articulated. An ethos we must be committed to in the actions we choose to take. Like our Colours, we too act as symbols that represents everything embedded in our shared ethos, whether we are in uniform or on civvy street.
We must celebrate Remembrance Day daily. Let us always ask ourselves, are we living in alignment with these attitudes, beliefs, and values, guiding our moral compass? How can we invest in ourselves and others for a better tomorrow?
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