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After the Remembrance
Nov. 11th, 2005 09:28 pmThere ought to be an option for "Repentent" in the mood list here at LiveJournal.
I owe the Universe an apology for the attitudes I posted last night.
This morning, I attended the service at the War Memorial. The weather was brighter and warmer than usual for the occasion, which set me slightly off-kilter mood wise for the next half-hour as we all waited for the services to start with the First Gun and Last Post. I briefly noted the Big Screen parked and powered up on the west side of Elgin Street next to the Chambers Building(s?) as a sidebar while I waited, and considered it a good thing: for years, many attendees could not see the whole ceremony despite showing up. A legitimate necessity, due to plain old safety considerations, and never mind the protective security details for the various dignitaries who made the trip for the occasion.
Then, as the ceremony kicked off, I saw it.
Live feed from the Remembrance Room at the National War Museum(NWM).
For those who don't know, Canada built a new NWM in the old Lebreton Flats district. It was finally opened to the public this past spring, and one of its main features is the Remembrance Room, just off the main entrance hall. Open to the public at large, it contains a single grave marker brought back from one of the European cemeteries containing Canada's war dead from World Wars 1 and 2. No name on the stone, as the remains were never identified and are now interred in our own Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the War Memorial.
The NWM's chief architect, Raymond Moriyama, and his team had designed the Room with a skylight, set up in such a way that, should Remembrance Day be sunny and bright, the light of the sun would fall directly on that ancient grave marker.
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
The live footage from the Remembrance Room told the tale.
Moriyama's people had done their homework, and the design paid off with the visual effect.
Right on target.
Right on cue.
Architectural design magick, in the best sense.
And if the weather had heeded my attitude problems with it, the world would not have seen this.
I should have known better.
As a closing note, there's one or two links I thought I might add in. One belongs to an acquaintance, name of Hadeel Al-Shalchi, whose perspective on the whole thing as a first-timer to this particular ritual I found interesting. Here's the link to her blog entry.
The other sidebar link? CBC Ottawa coverage of the NWM's grand opening.
I owe the Universe an apology for the attitudes I posted last night.
This morning, I attended the service at the War Memorial. The weather was brighter and warmer than usual for the occasion, which set me slightly off-kilter mood wise for the next half-hour as we all waited for the services to start with the First Gun and Last Post. I briefly noted the Big Screen parked and powered up on the west side of Elgin Street next to the Chambers Building(s?) as a sidebar while I waited, and considered it a good thing: for years, many attendees could not see the whole ceremony despite showing up. A legitimate necessity, due to plain old safety considerations, and never mind the protective security details for the various dignitaries who made the trip for the occasion.
Then, as the ceremony kicked off, I saw it.
Live feed from the Remembrance Room at the National War Museum(NWM).
For those who don't know, Canada built a new NWM in the old Lebreton Flats district. It was finally opened to the public this past spring, and one of its main features is the Remembrance Room, just off the main entrance hall. Open to the public at large, it contains a single grave marker brought back from one of the European cemeteries containing Canada's war dead from World Wars 1 and 2. No name on the stone, as the remains were never identified and are now interred in our own Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the War Memorial.
The NWM's chief architect, Raymond Moriyama, and his team had designed the Room with a skylight, set up in such a way that, should Remembrance Day be sunny and bright, the light of the sun would fall directly on that ancient grave marker.
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
The live footage from the Remembrance Room told the tale.
Moriyama's people had done their homework, and the design paid off with the visual effect.
Right on target.
Right on cue.
Architectural design magick, in the best sense.
And if the weather had heeded my attitude problems with it, the world would not have seen this.
I should have known better.
As a closing note, there's one or two links I thought I might add in. One belongs to an acquaintance, name of Hadeel Al-Shalchi, whose perspective on the whole thing as a first-timer to this particular ritual I found interesting. Here's the link to her blog entry.
The other sidebar link? CBC Ottawa coverage of the NWM's grand opening.
