🌟 The Angel and the Armistice 🌟
Sometimes stories find us in unexpected places. This one began on a bright autumn day at Vancouver’s Waterfront Station — a place filled with motion, history, and quiet ghosts of the past. 🍂
👩👧 A little child and their mother were walking hand in hand. The child, about four and a half, had a gift — one their mother didn’t fully understand but quietly respected.
As they passed a bronze monument, the young child tugged at their mom’s hand.
💬 “Mommy,” they whispered, “why is that Angel crying?” 😢
The mother almost dismissed it, distracted by the hum of traffic and the rhythm of footsteps all around them. It was a dry, sunny day — the kind that makes you forget the world’s sorrows for a while. ☀️
But when she looked up, she saw what her child meant. There was an angel — carved, solemn, wings outstretched in sorrow. For a moment, she thought it was just the play of light and shadow, but something in the air felt still.
They stopped to read the sign:
a memorial — dedicated to those who had gone to war ⚔️, so many who never came home.
As they walked away, the mother finally said softly,
💬 “She’s crying because she’s sad.” 💔
Later that day, the mother thought of her own family — of her Uncle Jimmy, whose real name was Charles James Enos. He had served in France during the Great War 🇫🇷.
Her mother once showed her the rosary he carried in the trenches — a small relic of courage and faith that somehow survived when so many did not. 🙏
For decades, his story had been scattered — a name in her great-grandfather’s diary 📖, a discharge paper, a death notice — until piece by piece, it all came together.
The young child's question stayed with her:
💭 “Why is the Angel crying?”
Perhaps she cries for all of them —
for the young lives lost,
for the families forever changed,
and for the generations who nearly forgot. 🌹
✨ This Angel — the Winged Victory at Vancouver’s Waterfront Station — stands quietly in a city rushing past. She’s a reminder that remembrance isn’t just for one day a year.
It’s for the invisible veterans,
the forgotten stories,
the Indigenous soldiers who returned to find no welcome,
and the everyday warriors on our streets today —
those still fighting for dignity in a city so rich. 🕊️
💫 Reflection
On this Remembrance Day, let’s take a moment not only to remember but to listen — especially to children.
They see what we overlook.
They remind us to look up, to feel, to ask questions that awaken our hearts. ❤️
🌺 Reflective Questions
- What do memorials like the Angel of Victory mean to us today?
- How many of us walk by without truly seeing?
- What would it mean to listen to the stories our elders never told?
- How can we honour those who returned, changed forever, but not celebrated?
- What might our city look like if remembrance meant action for peace?
- How can art and monuments help us feel history, not just read it?
- What do children see that adults overlook?
- How has war shaped your own family’s story?
- What can we learn from the compassion of earlier generations?
- How will you remember — not just today, but tomorrow?
🕊️ Lest We Forget.
📍 The Angel of Victory — Waterfront Station, Vancouver, BC
#RemembranceDay #VancouverHistory #AngelOfVictory #WWIMemorial #FamilyStories #CanadianHistory #ListenToChildren #Peace #ArtAndMemory #LestWeForget
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